Taiwan: Museums

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CLASS SCHEDULE
Introduction
Discourses of history
Elections
Austronesian
Elections
Early Colonialism
Qing Society
Japanese Takeover
Baseball
2-28
Little China
Democratization
Environment
Museums
Religion
Family and Marriage
Local and National
National and Global

ANTHROPOLOGY 469A/JSIS 484F

TAIWAN: CULTURE, SOCIETY, HISTORY

TOPICS AND READINGS FOR FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26

TOPICS
Museums are sites of national self-construction everywhere, and are also sites of contestation. Taiwan has had a particularly interesting museological history, because of the contesting ideas of the nation. Recently, there has been a dispute over the display of artifacts from China at the newly-opened "Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum." But what does the National Palace Museum represent, anyway? For today's class, we will have three activities:

We will discuss the posting question about nationalism and museums
We will have a presentation on indigenous arts and artists
We will hike over to the Burke Museum to have a peek at some rare and valuable indigenous artifacts (just for fun)

READINGS
All websites today:

Taipei Times, Two Charged after Museum Protest

(Optional) 故宮南院12獸首複製品，學者痛批"自毀格調" Scholars Criticize the "Self-destructive Taste" of Copies of the Heads of the Twelve Animals
Website of the National Place Museum, Southern Branch (hoping it has its promised English edition before this lesson comes up in class)
Website of the China Museum for Fujian-Taiwan Kinship, 闽台缘博物馆 in Quanzhou, Fujian. There is only a bit of an English page, but look at it, and of course look at the Chinese if you can. Think of the political message it sends.

ASSIGNMENT
By 8:00 a.m. on Friday, February 26, please post 200-400 words on the question of whether museums might really make a difference in people's perception of what a nation is, and whether the National Palace Museum and the Museum for Fujian-Taiwan Kinship clarify or muddify the status of Taiwan with respect to China.