Universal histories and universal museums: a transnational comparison

自18世纪后期以来，随着启蒙运动关于人权的哲学，西欧学者在世界历史和世界博物馆中对人类普遍性进行了概念化。在对博物馆藏品演变的调查中，“世界历史和世界博物馆”项目与“现在的过去”和“关心未来”项目的第三个目标密切相关：从跨国视角调解以及对过去的文化和社会占有。研究博物馆藏品的历史是我们研究历史是如何通过过去的使用、遗产和表现来创造、展示和传播的方式之一。我们的研究将突出从世纪至今西方普遍人类历史的启蒙知识的构成特征。它还将审查这种理解的假设和局限性。特别是，该项目力求解决以下方面的问题：体现界定人类普遍性的文化多样性，阐明历史和人类学方法来描述人类，以及社会知识实践对构建普遍知识的影响。该项目的第一阶段将结合联合收割机，通过四个研讨会和两个历史案例研究，以维多利亚和阿尔伯特博物馆以及布朗利码头博物馆的藏品为基础，进行批判性调查。该项目的第二阶段将在基于两个案例研究的小型展览中巩固第一阶段的研究，并在阿布扎比卢浮宫（一个当代世界博物馆）开幕之际举办一次会议。出版物将包括一本书，同行评审期刊上的文章和关键档案资源的数字化。

Since the late eighteenth century, alongside Enlightenment philosophy on human rights, western European scholars have conceptualised human universality in universal histories and universal museums. In its investigation of the evolution of museum collections, the 'Universal Histories and Universal Museums' project strongly connects with the third objective of both the 'The Past in the Present' and the 'Care for the Future' programmes: the mediation, and the cultural and social appropriation of the past, from transnational perspectives. Looking at the history of museum collections is one of the ways in which we can examine how history is made, displayed and disseminated through the uses, legacies and representations of the past. Our research will highlight the constituent features of encyclopaedic knowledge about western universal human histories, from the nineteenth century to the present day. It will also examine the assumptions and limitations of such understanding. In particular, the project seeks to address questions regarding the representation of the diversity of cultures that define human universality, the articulation of historical and anthropological approaches to the description of humanity and the influence of social knowledge practices on the structuring of universal knowledge. The project also considers ways thinking about the past help us to prepare for a global future that incorporates more diverse universalities.The first phase of the project will combine critical investigation through four workshops and two historical case studies, based in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Musée du quai Branly. The project's second phase will consolidate the first phase research in a small exhibition based on the two case studies, and a conference timed to align with the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi - a contemporary universal museum. Publications will include a book, articles in peer-reviewed journals and digitisation of key archival resources.