The Politics of Imagining and Forgetting in Chinese Ethnic Minorities' Museums

Through an exploration of the representation of ethnic minorities in the museums of Kunming, Yunnan Province of China, this article discusses the active role that museums play in the processes of memory and identity engineering, whereby museum images and narratives are used to support collective imagination about ethnic minorities' identities and past. Drawing from a comparative analysis of museum displays in Kunming, I discuss how the image of ethnic minorities is conveyed through a selective process of i) remembering and emphasizing specific cultural elements, ii) forgetting other elements, and lastly, iii) modifying the perception of ethnic minorities relation to the Han majority. By revealing the extent and modalities through which museum representations manipulate ethnic minorities' identities in China, the analysis aims to contribute to our understanding of the multiple ways in which museums act as sites for the enactment of collective memory and imagination

Materializing the past: mannequins, history and memory in museums. Insights from the Northern European and East-Asian contexts

What are the rationale, significance and implications of the use of reproductions of the human body in contemporary historical museums? This article probes this question through a critical analysis of diverse uses of body simulacra – specifically mannequins and life-size figures – in historical museums in Taiwan and China. The discussion of the East-Asian case study is set against examples from historical representations of the body in Northern Europe as a way to offer a comparative perspective that casts light on the uniqueness and similarities among these geo-cultural areas. This material enables me to reflect on the changing and diverse roles of mannequins in historical displays – in Western (North European) and non-Western contexts – ranging from materializations of the national past, its heroes and martyrs, aiming to canonize History as distant and authoritative, to display devices that strive to generate personal understandings of the past through memories and emotions

Ripensare la restituzione: dalla proprietà alla relazione

Il concetto legale di proprietà inteso come diritto esclusivo dell’individuo è profondamente radicato nella prospettiva ideologica dell’Occidente, da dove fu successivamente esportato a tutto il mondo attraverso l’impresa coloniale e poi implicitamente elevato a principio universale dalla Convenzione UNESCO del 1970 sulla Proprietà dei Beni Culturali (UNESCO, 1970). Non sorprende dunque che le istituzioni museali continuino ad operare in questo paradigma e siano restie o esplicitamente opposte alla restituzione del patrimonio culturale. Le ragioni di tale opposizione sono molteplici, ma si riconducono fondamentalmente ad un approccio alla curatela basato sul concetto legale di proprietà delle collezioni. Finché le collezioni continuano ad essere concepite come oggetti di proprietà del museo, e per estensione della nazione, la questione della restituzione rischia di rimanere in stallo. </p

Anthropocenic Emotions

In this article I propose the concept of anthropocenic emotions in order to capture the multiple interconnections between emotions and ecology. Building on this, I make a case for placing emotions at the heart of ecological debates and action, and related scholarly inquiries

Poetry and ecological awareness

In the face of global ecological decline, the main obstacles to action continue to be collective inertia, inattention and disconnection. Yet words chosen with art can electrify our senses and ignite the imagination needed to envision and create a different world. It is not a coincidence if we turn to poetry in the hardest times: poetry responds to a deep need to reconnect, to mend and heal broken relationships, including with the planet. Poetry carries deep ecological relevance. The aim of this chapter is to show that poetry is uniquely positioned to pierce through societal inertia because poetry can enhance ecological awareness, that is, awareness of our deep entanglements with the planet. Ecological awareness is the foundational, necessary condition for ecological action. The chapter draws on recent debates on the concept of ecological awareness in environmental humanities (including contributions by anthropologist Tim Ingold and philosopher Tim Morton) and on the efficacy of poetic structures (such as metaphors and synesthesia) in order to advance the argument that poetry is ecology. Methodologically, the chapter proposes a ‘poetic methodology’ based on full participation, attention and affective involvement of the reader/writer. These theoretical and methodological perspectives are grounded in the work of Italian (Friulian) poet Pierluigi Cappello. The analysis of extracts from Cappello’s poems traces a path of ecological awareness that originates in the reawakening of the senses, and through decentring of the human being, grounding, and accepting responsibility for our actions, can teach ways ahead towards ecological healing and hope.</p