Last week, I had the opportunity to share an on-going research interest of mine online on the sekolah gambar. This was what the museum was once called in the Malay language. I’ve always been very curious in what we can make from this. Anyway, to provide you with a gist of the talk, here’s a little abstract:
‘What do local perceptions of the museum from the past tell us about the history of the museum from the perspective of Southeast Asia? This talk attempts to go beyond an understanding of museums defined primarily by Western Europe. Instead, responding to the call for greater inclusivity and dialogue between museum workers and the community they serve since the 1970s, we will explore how this attitude can change our understanding of the colonial museum.
By exploring collection-building across a 300 year long period in Southeast Asia, the talk points to new bodies of scholarship highlighting colonial museums as sites of cross-cultural exchanges between the east and the west and producers of hybrid knowledge. As a result, we will also consider how cultural historians are today paying attention to the different types of voices that spoke about the museum to discover how museum visitors in the past create meaning out of their encounters with artefacts on display.’
Special thanks to Yusra and School of Architecture and the Built Environment at UCSI University for the invitation and the wonderful opportunity.
Click here for Part 1 and click here for Part 2.
I love to hear what you think! Share your thoughts with me.