Objects, Mythology, and Cultural Memory: A Case Study on Historical Exhibitions Related to the Island of Okinoshima in the Munakata Region in Japan
| Autor: | WANG, YUN-TING, 王筠婷 |
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| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 107 Mythology reveals a people’s worldviews, while its cultural thinking comes from its way of categorizations of things, which further influences people’s praxis and production of history. Against the backdrop of the Wa people’s frequent overseas interactions during the Kofun period, Okinoshima in the Genkai Sea became home for religious rituals, where sacred practices lasted for centuries and the contemporary belief of the three Munakata goddesses in Japanese mythology originated. Focusing on the relations between mythology and history, the study analyzed the mythological thoughts implied by two museums’ historical exhibitions related to Okinoshima’s sacred rituals by adopting methodologies of both historical anthropology and museology. The study then further explored the process of cultural reproduction and transformation in the course of history, as well as the phenomenon of infiltration between memory and history. The study discovered that the way museums arranged their historical exhibitions on display was influenced by contemporary values and also implied standards of cultural cognitive systems, which indicates the point that culture defines history. Cultural thinking of “other world” (“takai”, 他界 in Japanese) and “gods from outside world” in Japanese mythology determined the composition of ritual objects of Okinoshima in historical exhibitions. The exhibition by Shimpokan Museum of Munakata Taisha was planned and displayed in a diachronic point of view, while the special exhibition “the Sacred Island of Okinoshima in Munakata Region and the Yamato Imperial Court” by Kyushu National Museum was done in a synchronic point of view. They both emphasized the process of cultural reproduction and transformation and showed the historical interpretation of “the rebirth of the self.” Additionally, the cultural memory of Okinoshima shaped by the memory mechanisms of mythological text and ritual practices also influenced the museums’ production of history, which showed a historical view that encompasses both the sacred and the secular. |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
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