The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Commemorating ruins & ruined commemorations: the Beichuan National Earthquake Museum

Commemorating ruins & ruined commemorations: the Beichuan National Earthquake Museum
Commemorating ruins & ruined commemorations: the Beichuan National Earthquake Museum
This conference paper is based on fieldwork I conducted at the National Earthquake Museum (which includes the Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial Museum and the Beichuan Earthquake Relic Site), as part of a larger research project titled “Sites and Sights of Commemoration.” This project examines the ways specific Chinese episodes of trauma have recently been commemorated in state-funded Chinese museums and films, and interrogates the ways that these “sites” and “sights” discursively, representationally, and affectively create meaning. The purpose of the museum and memorial site is to commemorate the earthquake and the destruction it caused. In this contribution, I examine how the museum and the memorial site are doing their “memory work,” but in contrasting ways. They are what Alison Landsberg calls “experiential sites” – sites whose meanings come from the visitor’s experience of them. In order to examine these various functions further, I start by examining my experience at the site, starting first with the museum. I begin by examining the patriotic text displayed at the entrance of the museum before examining the imagery that repeats throughout the museum. I then turn to the ruin itself, and examine how it offers another type of labour that is different than the museum. I argue that, although created to memorialize the event, the ruined site is not as effective politically, per se, but is more effective affectively; that is to say, the feelings of passing through the ruin produce different meanings in different ways, some of which I interpret as subverting the dominant political ideology, expressed in the accompanying museum.
ruin, China, National Earthquake Museum, Beichuan, EARTHQUAKES, visual culture, museums, Wenchuan Earthquake, 2008 Sichuan Earthquake
Schultz, Corey Kai Nelson
4df94248-6850-4238-acb3-6e0f1a7a4205
Schultz, Corey Kai Nelson
4df94248-6850-4238-acb3-6e0f1a7a4205

Schultz, Corey Kai Nelson (2018) Commemorating ruins & ruined commemorations: the Beichuan National Earthquake Museum. Memory and Memorialisation in the People's Republic of China, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. 25 - 26 Oct 2018. 3 pp . (In Press)

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

This conference paper is based on fieldwork I conducted at the National Earthquake Museum (which includes the Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial Museum and the Beichuan Earthquake Relic Site), as part of a larger research project titled “Sites and Sights of Commemoration.” This project examines the ways specific Chinese episodes of trauma have recently been commemorated in state-funded Chinese museums and films, and interrogates the ways that these “sites” and “sights” discursively, representationally, and affectively create meaning. The purpose of the museum and memorial site is to commemorate the earthquake and the destruction it caused. In this contribution, I examine how the museum and the memorial site are doing their “memory work,” but in contrasting ways. They are what Alison Landsberg calls “experiential sites” – sites whose meanings come from the visitor’s experience of them. In order to examine these various functions further, I start by examining my experience at the site, starting first with the museum. I begin by examining the patriotic text displayed at the entrance of the museum before examining the imagery that repeats throughout the museum. I then turn to the ruin itself, and examine how it offers another type of labour that is different than the museum. I argue that, although created to memorialize the event, the ruined site is not as effective politically, per se, but is more effective affectively; that is to say, the feelings of passing through the ruin produce different meanings in different ways, some of which I interpret as subverting the dominant political ideology, expressed in the accompanying museum.

Text
Beichuan National Earthquake Museum - PPT Presentation
Download (2MB)

More information

Submitted date: 26 October 2018
Accepted/In Press date: 26 October 2018
Venue - Dates: Memory and Memorialisation in the People's Republic of China, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2018-10-25 - 2018-10-26
Keywords: ruin, China, National Earthquake Museum, Beichuan, EARTHQUAKES, visual culture, museums, Wenchuan Earthquake, 2008 Sichuan Earthquake

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 425711
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/425711
PURE UUID: ea912d4d-d8f4-4b80-83e3-eda423103f6c
ORCID for Corey Kai Nelson Schultz: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7866-2264

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 01 Nov 2018 17:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:20

Export record

Contributors

Author: Corey Kai Nelson Schultz ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×