Global Diasporic Chinese Museums Network Initiative

在过去的二十年里，无论是在中国还是在海外华人社区，华人博物馆的建设都出现了激增。博物馆对旅居中国的华人的展示大多以中国为中心；相比之下，海外华人建立的博物馆提供了一个散居的视角来看待中国遗产。此外，不同地方的华人社区采用不同的方式来代表自己。到目前为止，在中国设立的华人博物馆和华人社区之间几乎没有互动，更不用说合作了；散居海外的华人建立的博物馆也在很大程度上是在孤立中发展起来的。这个研究网络项目的目的是建立一个全球华人博物馆网络，作为一个平台，发起和促进该领域跨地域和国界的博物馆之间的智力对话和专业合作。它将汇集博物馆策展人、学者、政策制定者和这一新兴文化领域的其他利益相关者，就收藏、策展和展览实践以及公众参与交流经验和分享见解，并对中国及其他国家的公共政策制定和移民与博物馆的跨学科研究产生影响。这些目标将通过一系列活动实现，包括：(1)在线公开讲座系列，由10至12个讲座组成，每个讲座由一个参与博物馆的策展人/主任主持，并向公众开放。(2)两个现场专题工作坊，深入讨论公开讲座系列的主要议题。第一届将在新加坡举行，中国、东南亚和澳大利亚的主要博物馆将参加。第二届将在伦敦举行，美国、加拿大和英国的重点博物馆和文物研究所将参加。(3)一个虚拟的国际研讨会来结束这个项目。它将汇集来自世界各地的学者、博物馆从业者、政策制定者和华侨华人社区成员，讨论合作收藏、策展、展览和公众参与方面的创新，以及对公共政策和研究的影响。(4)开放获取网站将传播事件并报告基于上述活动产生的输出。该网站还将作为网络博物馆的在线基地，并记录各种活动，包括双语博客。该网站还将举办一个重要藏品的联合在线展览，并由会员博物馆举办外展活动，比较华人在世界各地的经历。该项目的调查结果将以各种形式和通过不同渠道传播。公开讲座系列的录像将在项目网站上发布。在项目结束时将写一份政策摘要。PI和co-将共同编辑一份由博物馆馆长/馆长为公众讲座系列所做贡献的编辑卷。将编写两份专题讲习班报告，其中将包括专题讨论会的摘要、评论文章和多媒体特色，如短音频和视频采访。PI和Co-I将共同编辑同行评审学术期刊（华侨华人杂志）的特刊，向学术受众传达这一发现。最后，我们计划在项目完成后成立一个国际华人博物馆协会，为博物馆网络提供一个永久性的机构结构，并巩固项目的价值和可持续性。该项目具有广泛而长期的影响，将对华人散居博物馆的发展产生变革性的影响，为发展超越民族国家框架的博物馆和遗产跨学科研究提供肥沃的土壤，并为决策提供信息。

The past two decades have witnessed an upsurge in the building of museums on Chinese diaspora both in the PRC and among the diasporic Chinese communities. Museum representations of Chinese diaspora in China are mostly dominated by a China-centred approach; by contrast, museums set up by Chinese overseas offer a diasporic perspective to Chinese heritage. Furthermore, diasporic Chinese communities in different places adopt different approaches to represent themselves. So far, there has been little interaction, let alone cooperation, between museums on Chinese diaspora set up in China and in diasporic Chinese communities; museums established by the diasporic Chinese have also developed largely in isolation. The aim of this research network project is to develop a global network of diasporic Chinese museums as a platform that initiates and stimulates intellectual dialogues and professional collaborations between museums in this field across geographic and national boundaries. It will bring together museum curators, scholars, policy makers, and other stakeholders in this emerging cultural sphere to exchange experiences and share insights into collecting, curating and exhibition practice and public engagement, and to generate impact on public policymaking and interdisciplinary research of migration and museum in the Chinese context and beyond. These objectives will be achieved through a set of activities, including: (1) An online public talk series on diasporic Chinese museums, consisting of 10 to 12 talks, each given by the curator/director of one participating museum and is open to the public. (2) Two on-site thematic workshops to have in-depth discussion of key issues emerging from the public talk series. The first one will be held in Singapore, with the participation of key museums in China, Southeast Asia and Australia. The second one will be held in London, with the participation of key museums and heritage institutes in the US, Canada and the UK. (3) A virtual international symposium to conclude the project. It will bring together academics, museum practitioners, policy makers and members of diasporic Chinese communities from around the world to discuss innovations in collaborative collecting, curating, exhibition and public engagement, and impacts on public policies and research. (4) An open-access website will communicate events and report on the output created on the basis of the above activities. The website will also function as an online home base for network museums and chronicle various activities, including bilingual blogs. The website will also host a joint online exhibition of key collections and outreach activities by member museums comparing the Chinese diasporic experience around the world. The findings of the project will be disseminated in a variety of forms and through different channels. Video recordings of public lecture series will be posted on the website of the project. A policy brief will be written at the end of the project. The PI and Co-will co-edit an edited volume of contributions made by museum curators/directors to the public talk series. Two thematic workshop reports will be produced and will include summaries of panels, commentary pieces, and multimedia features such as short audio and video interviews. The PI and Co-I will co-edit a special issue of a peer-reviewed academic journal (Journal of Chinese Overseas) to communicate the finding to academic audiences. Finally, we plan to set up an International Association of Diasporic Chinese Museums following the completion of the project to give the museum network a permanent institutional structure and cement the value and sustainability of this project. This project has wide-ranging and long-term impacts that will generate transformative effects on the development of Chinese diaspora museums, offer a fertile ground for developing interdisciplinary research of museum and heritage beyond nation-state framework and inform policy-making.