Universal histories and universal museums: a transnational comparison

自18世纪末以来，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概念化了人类的普遍性。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”计划的第三个目标密切相关：从跨国的角度对过去的调解以及文化和社会占有。回顾博物馆藏品的历史是我们可以研究历史是如何通过过去的用途、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十九世纪到今天西方普遍人类历史百科全书式的知识的构成特征。它还将审查这种理解的假设和限制。具体而言，该项目力求解决以下问题：确定人类普遍性的文化多样性的表现，阐述描述人类的历史和人类学方法，以及社会知识实践对普遍知识结构的影响。该项目还考虑了思考过去的方法，帮助我们为包含更多样化普遍性的全球未来做准备。该项目的第一阶段将通过四个研讨会和两个历史案例研究结合批判性调查，这些研究基于维多利亚和阿尔伯特博物馆和布朗利博物馆的藏品。该项目的第二阶段将在一个以两个案例研究为基础的小型展览中巩固第一阶段的研究，并将举行一次会议，以配合阿布扎比卢浮宫的开放--一个当代的万能博物馆。出版物将包括一本书、同行评议期刊上的文章以及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.