Yunci Cai – författare

Staging Indigenous Heritage examines the cultural politics of four Indigenous cultural villages in Malaysia. Demonstrating that such villages are often beset with the politics of brokerage and representation, the book shows that this reinforces a culture of dependency on the brokers.

By critically examining the relationship between Indigenous tourism and development through the establishment of Indigenous cultural villages, the book addresses the complexities of adopting the ‘culture for development’ paradigm as a developmental strategy. Demonstrating that the opportunities for self-representation and self-determination can become entwined with the politics of brokerage and the contradictory dualism of culture, it becomes clear that this can both facilitate and compromise their intended outcomes. Challenging the simplistic conceptualisation of Indigenous communities as harmonious and unified wholes, the book shows how Indigenous cultures are actively forged, struggled over, and negotiated in contemporary Malaysia.

Confronting the largely positive rhetoric in current discourses on the benefits of community-based cultural projects, Staging Indigenous Heritage should be essential reading for academics and students in the fields of museum studies, cultural heritage studies, Indigenous studies, development studies, tourism, anthropology, and geography. The book should also be of interest to museum and heritage professionals around the world.

Staging Indigenous Heritage examines the cultural politics of four Indigenous cultural villages in Malaysia. Demonstrating that such villages are often beset with the politics of brokerage and representation, the book shows that this reinforces a culture of dependency on the brokers.

By critically examining the relationship between Indigenous tourism and development through the establishment of Indigenous cultural villages, the book addresses the complexities of adopting the ‘culture for development’ paradigm as a developmental strategy. Demonstrating that the opportunities for self-representation and self-determination can become entwined with the politics of brokerage and the contradictory dualism of culture, it becomes clear that this can both facilitate and compromise their intended outcomes. Challenging the simplistic conceptualisation of Indigenous communities as harmonious and unified wholes, the book shows how Indigenous cultures are actively forged, struggled over, and negotiated in contemporary Malaysia.

Confronting the largely positive rhetoric in current discourses on the benefits of community-based cultural projects, Staging Indigenous Heritage should be essential reading for academics and students in the fields of museum studies, cultural heritage studies, Indigenous studies, development studies, tourism, anthropology, and geography. The book should also be of interest to museum and heritage professionals around the world.

The Museum in Asia advances an understanding of the flourishing museum landscape in the region by offering a variety of conceptual tools and frameworks through which museum development can be analysed and understood.

Informed by the key theoretical tenets of critical museology and heritage studies, this volume seeks to deconstruct the idea of museology and the museum phenomenon in East, South and Southeast Asia to identify common themes and trends unique to Asia. Drawing on case studies from ten different countries in Asia, including China and India, it proffers a set of analytical tools to think through how we can understand and conceptualise the study of museums and museology in Asia. Contributions to this edited volume are drawn from both Asian and Western academic contexts, thus offering both ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ perspectives on the museum phenomenon in Asia.

The Museum in Asia is the first academic book to explore the museum phenomenon in Asia from theoretical perspectives informed by critical museology and heritage studies, making it an essential text for the teaching of courses relating to museum studies, cultural heritage studies or Asian studies. Academics, students and professionals who are interested in learning more about the theory behind the museum phenomenon in Asia will find this book to be a useful resource.