Culturally appropriate social inclusion: Insights from the Chinese museum context

Abstract

Social inclusion, defined as a suite of socially related issues and concerns encompassing access, equity, and social justice, transpires in culturally distinct ways. Through a deeply grounded investigation of the dynamics of inclusion in museums in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), I draw upon Christina Kreps’ concept of culturally appropriate museology, probing the possibilities inherent in her approach. I demonstrate that museum practitioners in the PRC are finding culturally appropriate and politically prudent solutions to complex and interlinked concerns around inclusion, especially in relation to young people. Drawing from the Chinese Communist Party’s campaigns of cultural nationalism and the alleviation of poverty, I show how practitioners employ strategies that seek to foster belonging and build cultural capital. Analysing examples of culturally appropriate inclusive practice that challenges the severe stigma of disability in China, I examine the ways that museums remove barriers to access while also providing equity of experience and pursuing social justice for disabled people. By surfacing the unique and situated ways in which inclusive work takes place in China, this study both illuminates and complicates our understanding of inclusion and its possibilities in diverse settings. It also shows how Kreps’ concept of culturally appropriate museology can be extended, enriched, and reframed to evidence its relevance in elucidating a wide range of museological practices and cultural settings.