The rehabilitation and mobilization of cultural heritage by Kachin people since 1994
My research, which is situated in Museum Studies, concerns museums’ relationships with politicized diaspora and/or ‘source’ communities, specifically the potential links between a historic colonially-informed museum collection cared for by Brighton Museum & Art Gallery and members of an ethnic minority group from Burma (Myanmar): the Kachin. I have become increasingly interested in how the international Kachin community builds and maintains its networks (especially in the context of ongoing conflict in northern Burma) and in Kachin understandings of ‘culture’ and ‘heritage’ – and what these might mean for museums, such as that at Brighton, seeking to build partnerships with this and other diaspora and/or ‘source’ communities.
AHRC funded