Kevin Martens WONG
| Tuan Raja Naga Ultramar Kevin Martens Wong is the current and 13th Kabesa, Leader or Indigenous Chief of the creole/indigenous Kristang community of Singapore and Southeast Asia, and the Omimerliang (Merlionsman) and Tigrisoneru (Dreamtiger) of Singapore. He is the developer of the Osura Pesuasang, the Kristang theory of human individuation, and the primary scholar, writer, poet, playwright and teacher for Kristang in Singapore. He was the 2017 recipient of the Lee Hsien Loong Award for Outstanding All-Round Achievement (LHL-OAA), the 2017 President’s Volunteer and Philanthropy Award for Individual-Youth (PVPA), the 2017 NUS Minerva Prize and 2017 Eurasian Association Henry David Hochstadt Award winner for the best graduating undergraduate student in Linguistics and best graduating Eurasian undergraduate student in Singapore, and is a 2023 Next Generation Foresight Practitioner Fellow, a 2023 Poesiaeuropa Fellow under the High Patronage of the European Parliament, and a Researching Phenomenological Psychopathology Network Partner with the University of Birmingham and the Wellcome Trust. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics (Honours Highest Distinction) from the National University of Singapore, a Postgraduate Certificate in Archeoastronomy from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the National Institute of Education in Singapore. |
| Research Interests/ Primary Fields |
language revitalisation; Kristang; decolonisation and postcolonial studies, especially in the context of Sundaland / Southeast Asia; decolonisation of academia, especially psychology and history; creole/indigenous sexuality and gender, language and well-being, especially the Kristang four-way approach to gender and sexuality and the body; language and encoding for mental health; creole/indigenous psychology and human individuation; creole/indigenous epistemology and epistemic uncertainty; creole/indigenous theatre and performance; creole/indigenous physics and mathematics; Deep Time and occluded/suppressed oral/community histories; creole/indigenous approaches to trauma recovery; creole/indigenous futures studies |
| Dissertation Topic/ Title | A grammar of Singapore Kristang with community and pedagogical considerations |
| Dissertation Supervisor | Assoc Prof Rebecca Lurie Starr |
| Recent Presentations | “(Re)constructing Creole-Indigenous Relational Leadership Across Time and Space: Retroactively Defining the Role of the Kabesa or Chief of the Kristang People through Historical Memory”. To be presented at New Pathways: Brno Graduate Conference in English Studies 2025, 20 November 2025, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
“Dreamfishing: Exploring Creole-Indigenous Connections to the Collective Unconscious in Kristang". Presented at the 2025 Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Conference, 24 July 2025, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand [IACS 2025]. “Intuition & Synchronicity in the Derivation of Kristang Creole-Indigenous Future Psychohistory". Presented at Intuition & Synchronicity: A Transdisciplinary Conference, 23 July 2025, London Arts-Based Research Centre (LABRC), London, United Kingdom. "Sperah na Sombra: The healing, paradoxical power of lusembra or darklight in contemporary creole/indigenous Kristang language, culture and identity". Presented at Darkness II: Invisible Imaginaries, 21 January 2025, Nuuk, Greenland. Travel costs supported by National University of Singapore graduate student funding. “An Ocean City Imagined Artwork Activation: Tell Your Ocean City Story with members of the Kristang community”. Presented as invited speaker and Kabesa / Cowboy of Heaven, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25 and 26 October 2024, ArtScience Museum, Singapore, alongside and coordinating 18 other Kristang speakers and presenters. "A Scholar, a Glow-Glow Dancer, and a Gentleman: Transformative Body-Oriented Leadership for the Obliteration of Trauma in Contemporary Singapore". Presented at the 1st Singapore Queer Symposium, 28 September 2024, Singapore, and the 5th International Conference on Memory, Trauma and Recovery, 20 September 2024, online. “Santah kaladu: Queering the Silent History (and Roaring, Singing Future!) of Kristang and Portuguese-Eurasian Creole Language and Identity”. Presented at the 2024 Modern Language Association (MLA) convention, 7 January 2024, Philadelphia, United States [MLA 2024]. “The Last Merlionsman of the Republic of Singapore: On how the sequel to Altered Straits (2017) became a lived, real-world experience”. Presented at the 2024 Modern Language Association (MLA) convention, 6 January 2024, Philadelphia, United States [MLA 2024]. “Stradu di Mundu: The lost golden age of Kristang-language theatre in Singapore (1892-1926), and its potential for reclamation in the present day”. Presented at the Singapore Drama Educators Association (SDEA) 2023 Conference: Rooting Deep, Branching Wide: Strengthening Practices, Expanding Possibilities, 30 June 2023, Singapore. First known academic conference presentation in the world delivered entirely in Kristang. “Intresmiu intrametederu: A comparative ecology of the creole Kristang language under Dutch and British colonial rule, 1750-1914”. Presented at the Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies World Congress 2023, 21 June 2023, Singapore Management University, Singapore [SGNCS 2023]. Panel: Assimilation and Empire. |
| Publications | Wong, Kevin Martens (2025). “This Stirring Love”. In Alan Hickman & Roula-Maria Dib (ed.), Shakespeare Reimagined: Contemporary Interpretations and Creative Adaptations in Arts-Based Research (pp. 143-163). London Arts-Based Research Centre (LABRC).
Wong, Kevin Martens (2024). Animumbes 1: Kristang for Beginners (level 1 textbook, for use with Kodrah Kristang 1A). Kodrah Kristang & Merlionsman Coaching & Consulting. Wong, Kevin Martens (2024). “Kultura Krismatra: Excavating the Progenitor Kristang Creole/Indigenous Way of Being in Singapore”. In Mǎdǎlina Pantea (ed.), Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Cultural Texts and Contexts in the English Speaking World, pp. 114-128. University of Oradea. Wong, Kevin Martens (2023-present). Libru Laranja / The Orange Book (Chapters 1-1538). Singapore: Merlionsman Coaching & Consulting. Wong, Kevin Martens (2023-present). Libru Lontra / The Otter Book: The Kristang Dreaming Dictionary. Merlionsman Coaching & Consulting. Wong, Kevin Martens (2023). "Towards a Kristang / Portuguese-Eurasian literature: Contestations, challenges and characteristics”. In Meenu Dudeja & Shikha Saxena (eds.), World Literature: Past, Present and Future, pp. 11-23. New Delhi, India: Rudra Publishers. Wong, Kevin Martens (2023). “Roda Mundansa: Excavating and revitalising a creole-indigenous approach to deep time in Singapore Kristang”. In Bhawna Vij Arora (ed.), Unearthing: Past in Present and Future, pp. 35-56. New Delhi, India: Asian Press. Wong, Kevin Martens (2023). “Island of Individuation: Teaching with a new, dynamic approach to the development of the human psyche in the Singapore context.” In Proceedings of the 3rd Southeast Asian Conference on Education (SEACE 2023), February 10-13, Singapore Management University and the Singapore EXPO, Singapore. Wong, Kevin Martens (2021). “Kristang language revitalization in Singapore under the Kodrah Kristang initiative, 2016-present”. In Justyna Olko and Julia Sallabank (eds.), Revitalizing endangered languages: A practical guide, “Chapter 15: Teaching Strategies for Language Revitalization and Maintenance”, by Janne Underriner, Lindsay Marean, Pigga Keskitalo, Zalmai Zahir, Pyuwa Bommelyn and Ruby Tuttle. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Wong, Kevin Martens (2019). “Na kaza, greza kung stradu: The Kristang language in colonial Singapore, 1875-1926”. Language Ecology 3(2), pp. 157-188. doi:10.1075/le.19003.won |
| Modules Taught |
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| Practice | Ongoing Kristang language teaching under Kodrah Kristang:
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| Other Experience and Information | 2023-2027: National University of Singapore Graduate Research Scholarship
2025-2027: Canadian Indigenous Languages & Literacy Development Institute DRAGONS Lab INSTILS Network Member 2024: Unearthodox Voices of Regeneration Regenerative Futures international writing competition Top Prize for ‘Nus Nubu Sta Prendeh Sunyeskah / We are Learning How to Dreamfish Again’ 2023-2024: School of International Futures Next Generation Foresight Practitioners (NGFP) Fellowship: Futures Methods from Around the World (Singapore / Dreamfishing) 2023: National Library Board Collecting Today for Tomorrow: Young Singapore invited contributor |