Table Of ContentEntanglements of “Living Heritage”:
Ecomuseum Development in Rural China
by
William Nitzky
ADissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Approved April 2014 by the
Graduate Supervisory Committee:
Hjorleifur Jonsson, Co-Chair
Gwyneira Isaac, Co-Chair
Takeyuki Tsuda
James Eder
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
August 2014
©2014 William David Nitzky
All Rights Reserved
ABSTRACT
Museums are gaining increasing attention throughout the world for their ability to
foster social inclusion, intercultural dialogue, and collaboration in practices of heritage
management, exhibition, and interpretation. This dissertation aims to contribute a critical
perspective on museums as agents of social change through an exploration of new
museological practices in contemporary China. Through an ethnography of the
ecomuseum, I unravel the assumptions and expectations of implementing a Western
concept based on notions of community participation, empowerment, and the
democratization of heritage in the context of a transforming China.
In my ethnographic account of the multifaceted politics faced by ecomuseums, I
question how power and authority are mediated through these civic institutions and how
central aspects of museum and heritage practices are being redressed in Chinese society.
This study exposes how ecomuseums in China are a result of global processes and
positioned as part of a heritage protection movement and museum development boom to
promote cultural nationalism, a “civilized” China, and state edicts of rural development in
impoverished ethnic minority regions. Detailing the implications of government-led
ecomuseum development in ethnic villages in southwest China, and the specific case of
Huaili ecomuseum, in Guangxi, I interrogate the institutionalization of heritage and
cultural landscapes through processes of exhibition, museumification, and the revaluing
of culture. I explore the ecomuseum as a social space of cross-cultural encounter and
friction through which local actors grapple with conditions of cultural governance and the
entanglements cultural difference and a national heritage discourse. In my critical
analysis of collected ethnographic narratives over 15 months of fieldwork from
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state-directed interest groups, Chinese technocrats, and villager informants involved in
the institutionalization of heritage, I present the complex arrangements and interactions
that take place through the ecomuseum context and how subject positionalities shift and
claims to heritage, identity, and voice are negotiated, regulated, and contested. This study
contributes to the anthropology of China and museum and heritage studies, and aims to
push new directions in the study of community heritage and museums, in offering a
critical perspective of the political nature of ecomuseums in non-Western contexts, such
as China.
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To Mom and Dad, who have always supported me and pushed me to succeed.
To Sanae, who always stood by me.
And to Kaili, my little sweetheart.
Thank you.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The completion of my dissertation would never have been possible without the
support, assistance, and encouragement of many people and institutions. First, I would
like to thank my committee chairs, Hjorleifur Jonsson and Gwyneira Isaac, who have
been great mentors and who have pushed me to succeed in the completion of my degree.
Professor Jonsson has been a resource of support and intellectual inspiration from the
very beginning of my Ph.D. program at ASU, and has always had his door open to me
discuss my research and problems. Professor Isaac has always challenged me to reflect on
the contribution of my work in anthropology and the growing field of museum and
heritage studies. Professor Takeyuki (Gaku) Tsuda has always been there to assist in the
progress of my work and his undivided support is unmatched. I cannot thank him enough
for being so generous with his time and offering advice on my research and academic
opportunities. Professor James Eder, too, has helped shape the production of this
dissertation and has helped me understand the value and challenges of fieldwork and he
has been a mentor in my pursuit of working in education. I also thank other professors
who I had the opportunity to work closely with in the School of Human Evolution and
Social Change (SHESC) and ASU and have also played an indispensable role in the
development of my research. I want to thank Professor Richard Toon, in particular, for
his insightfulness and who has always pushed me to thinking critically of museums.
In China, numerous individuals and institutions have provided invaluable assistance
in the development of my research. I want to specially thank Professor Pan Shouyong,
who has not only been a sponsor of my field research, but a close friend. He has helped
provide countless references and introductions in the field and was the first to push me to
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examine ecomuseums in China. I wish to thank the support of Central University for
Nationalities for acting as my host institution in China and the numerous scholars who
worked with me there. I would also like to thank Su Donghai, Cao Bingwu, Huang
Chunyu, Wei Ronghui, Hu Chaoxiang, Zhang Xiaojun, WuWeifeng, and Qin Pu for all
giving me great assistance and inspiration for my work. I also thank the support of
Guangxi Museum for Nationalities and Lu Wendong and Mo Zhidong and the
ecomuseum research team for their assistance in my research on Guangxi ecomuseums,
and welcoming my reflections on project improvement. I cannot thank Lai Xuefang
enough for assisting me in the field and for her diligence and curiousity.
I am of course most of all indebted to the residents of the ecomuseum villages where
I conducted by research in the Guangxi and the Guizhou. I thank them for their
hospitality and friendship and openness in accepting me into their communities. I cannot
adequately thank all of them for their kindness, for engaging me in stories about their
lives, legends, and memories, teaching me their local languages, sharing their opinions
and attitudes, and welcoming my interviews. In particular, I wish to thank Lu Chaojin, Li
Xia, and Lu Chaoming who took the time to welcome me into their family, show me the
intricacies of rural life and dounou culture, and for their efforts in translation. Without
them my fieldwork in Huaili would have not been possible.
My dissertation project was financially supported at various stages of my doctoral
degree. I received generous funds from SHESC and the Graduate and Professional
Student Association at ASU. I thank the International Institute of Education and the
Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for supporting my field research in China and dissertation
writing.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................vii
LIST OF FIGURES..............................................................................................................viii
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1
2 CREATINGWINDOWS OF CIVILIZATION: THE EVOLUTION OF THE
MUSEUM IN CHINA ................................................................................................44
3 MUSEUMIFICATION OF THE BAIKUYAO: GUANGXI’S FIRST
ECOMUSEUM............................................................................................................98
4 ROLES OF ECOMUSEUMS IN RURALCHINA: MEDIATING DEVELOPMENT
AND PRESERVATION.............................................................................................159
5 ENTANGLED DRUMSAND EMERGENT HERITAGE.....................................202
6 THE ECOMUSEUM EFFECT: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATIONATTHE
PERIPHERY?...........................................................................................................276
7 ETHNOGRAPHIC VIGNETTES...........................................................................346
8 CONCLUSION: CONTACTSAND FRICTIONS.................................................354
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................379
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LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Ecomuseums Established in Southwest China.............................................. 170
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. Ecomuseum Model (Rivard 1984 cited in Davis 1999)....................................18
2. Traditional Museum Model (Rivard 1984 cited in Davis 1999).......................18
3. Ohara contribution to Davis's (1999) “three circles model”.............................19
4. Davis (1999) Necklace Model...........................................................................19
5. The website banner to the Chinese National Museum of Ethnology, est. 1995.
The image suggests the celebration ethnic diversity of a “unified” of China.
(http://www.cnmuseum.com/web/c_00000013/).............................................66
6. Nanjing Sifang Art Museum by Steven Holl
(http://www.contemporist.com/2011/05/10/).....................................................75
7. Datong Art Museum by Foster + Partners
(http://inhabitat.com/foster-partners-unveils-new-steel-pyramid-passive-art-
museum-in-datong-china/).................................................................................75
8. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
(http://mapsof.net/map/china-guangxi-location-map)......................................103
9. Distribution Map of Guangxi 1+10 Ecomuseum Program (GXMN). The center
circle is representative of Guangxi Museum for Nationalities, linked to 10
ecomuseums. (Guangxi Museum for Nationalities)
(http://mapsof.net/map/china-guangxi-location-map) .....................................103
10. Distribution Map of Yao in China (He n.d.)..................................................106
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