Prof. Philip Clart, Ph.D.

I will investigate the negotiation of sacred and secular spaces in present-day Taiwan, with “religious museums” as a case example. A religious museum is defined here as one that is designed, run, and managed by a religious organisation; such museums raise a number of interesting questions regarding the religious organisation’s rationale for, and specific approach to, setting up and running a museum. I will, on the one hand, focus on the strategic discourses within religious organisations concerning the aims and purposes of their museum projects, in particular with regard to the definition and differentiation of secular and sacred spaces and functions; on the other hand, I will examine the museums’ functionality within the sponsoring religious organisations’ ongoing negotiation of their relationship with secular institutions and agents. I expect the role of government to be particularly important as laws and official regulations create the legal and political framework for establishing and running museums as quasi-public service institutions.

The study will focus on a handful of case examples, currently limited to three, which include:

• The Buddha Memorial Centre 佛光山佛院紀念館 (Kaohsiung), a hybrid structure combining devotional and museum spaces attached to (but physically separate from) the Foguangshan monastic complex;
• Museums attached to local community temples; here I intend to focus on two well-known Mazu 媽祖 temples, viz., the Chaotiangong in Beigang 北港朝天宮 and the Fengtiangong in Xin’gang 新港奉天宮.

The cases involve quite different settings and constellations of factors and issues. The Buddha Memorial Centre is run by a Buddhist monastic organisation with apparently dual religious and educational purposes, while the museums directed by local Mazu temples are closely involved with and influenced by local and even national politics and their museums are multifaceted ventures involving local identities, inter-temple rivalries, and national cultural policies (such as the promotion of local culture centres, wenhua zhongxin 文化中心). I plan to investigate these cases paying particular attention to the following aspects: the museum’s social functions for and within the religious institution; its conceptualisation and interpretation by the religious institution; its interactions with other secular and religious agents.