9.02.2017
An International Symposium,
Taipei, 2017
Teaching about Taiwan in Museums—A Case
Study of NTU’s “Taiwan through the Lens of Its Museums” Course
Chun-Yi Tsai (Ph.D.)
National Taiwan University
Taught in English, “Taiwan
through the Lens of Its Museums” is a course offered to a lively mix of local
and international students at NTU. At once a Taiwan studies and a museum
studies course, this course introduces local and international students to aspects
of Taiwan’s social, cultural, and political histories through a variety of
national museums whose subjects range from archaeology, natural history,
literature, contemporary art, to digitized materials. By analyzing how the
featured institutions’ histories, location and architecture, as well as the
compositions and presentations of their collections evolved over time, the
course also aims to uncover the theories and practices of collecting, display,
and interpretation at work behind the scenes, presenting museums as
institutions which construct, legitimize, and maintain “cultural realities.”
Museums are an integral
part of the course because they are not just the subject of lectures, the
destination for class trips, the workplace of many of the course’s guest
lecturers, but also intimately tied to the students’ assignments. For their
final projects, for instance, students can design a new museum to be
established in Taiwan and are encouraged to use one of NTU’s many campus
museums as their case studies. Students could also earn extra course credits as
student docents for partner museums.
In this talk, the
instructor of the course will talk about the unique opportunities and
challenges of teaching about Taiwan through its museums to a culturally diverse
group of college students whose first language is not English.
Keywords: museum
studies, Taiwan studies, university museums, general education, English
language content-based courses, international students
以博物館為教室：以台大【展示台灣：從博物館看台灣文史】課程為例
蔡君彝
台灣大學共同教育中心助理教授
以英語授課的【展示台灣：從博物館看台灣文史】，為台大針對國際學生設計的「探索台灣」系列課程之一、亦認列於本校「台灣研究學程」中，是聚焦於在地博物館「如何陳述台灣文史」的跨領域型通識課程。課程以台灣各類具代表性、且以台灣風土歷史文物為主題的博物館為案例，利用博物館學的角度，介紹各館的立意與歷史、分析選件的考慮與呈現手法、並與國外相關主題的博物館對比，以突顯各館對台灣文史詮釋的異同。所論及的博物館，其展示的主題從史前到近代、從自然科學與人文藝術、從實體文物到無形的文化資產與數位典藏，包羅各種時代、領域、與形式，試圖讓學生對台灣博物館史與台灣文史有通盤的瞭解與興趣，並讓學生對博物館對空間與藏品的詮釋機制有初步的認識與批判能力。
博物館不僅是該課程的主題，也是校外實境教學的場所。為了讓學生能更加了解博物館研究策展、教育推廣等幕後工作人員在展場呈現上的合作與協調，課程亦定期邀集國內外博物館從業人員現身說法。學生可藉由擔任合作博物館的導覽員獲得加分機會，期末報告則可選擇兩間屬性、主題相似的博物館，針對其主題設定、展示手法、所代表的立場與史觀等，做深入的比較分析，甚或為台灣設計一間新的國立博物館。
在本演講中，該課程教師將回顧與分享兩年來的課程設計與教學心得，並討論透過博物館對本地、外籍學生介紹臺灣文史與現況的潛力與挑戰。
關鍵字：博物館學、台灣研究、大學博物館、實境教學、教學實務、通識教育、英語授課、國際學生
