Taiwan's museums reveal how governments shape national identity through memory
A new analysis of Taiwan's memorial institutions shows how museums function as political tools that construct competing versions of history. For policymakers and cultural institutions worldwide, the study highlights how the physical design and curation of museums can either entrench official narratives or enable genuine public debate about contested pasts.
Originaltitel: The Landscape of Historical Memory. The Politics of Museums and Memorial Culture in Post-Martial Law Taiwan by Kirk A. Denton
<p>In The Landscape of Historical Memory. The Politics of Museums and Memorial Culture in Post-Martial Law Taiwan,Kirk A. Denton, a professor of Chinese literature at The Ohio State University, traverses this rough terrain of post-martial-law Taiwan and guides us meticulously through a varied selection of lieux de mémoire with a focus on museums. Perfectly equipped with his well-documented expertise in the literary, visual, and memorial culture of Greater China, Denton reads museums and other manifestations of memorial culture as texts of political and ideological complicity and contestation. Detailing the intricate negotiations proceeding their construction, interpreting and contextualizing their exhibits, Denton takes us on a fascinating journey through a collective and politically sanctioned historical narrative turned into steel and stone.</p>