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What are the rationale, significance and implications of the use of reproductions of the human body in contemporary historical museums? This article probes this question through a critical analysis of diverse uses of body simulacra– specifically mannequins and life-size figures – in historical museums in Taiwan and China. The discussion of the East-Asian case study is set against examples from historical representations of the body in Northern Europe as a way to offer a comparative perspective that casts light on the uniqueness and similarities among these geo-cultural areas. This material enables me to reflect on the changing and diverse roles of mannequins in historical displays – in Western (North European) and non-Western contexts – ranging from materializations of the national past, its heroes and martyrs, aiming to canonize History as distant and authoritative, to display devices that strive to generate personal understandings of the past through memories and emotions.

This article explores the polysemic character of objects through an analysis of multiple interpretations of indigenous material culture in contemporary Taiwan. My study focuses on a specific type of object—the canoe of the Tao indigenous group of Taiwan—and its interpretations inside and outside of museums. Theoretically, my analysis draws on the concepts of polysemy, boundary objects, and cultural translation to examine the different meanings and contextualizations of Tao canoes. The unique cultural density of Tao canoes provides opportunities to critically engage with the propensity of museums to act as sites for the production, transformation, and dissemination of knowledge about indigenous cultures and to address the complex political discourses in which indigenous material culture is entangled in contemporary Taiwan. [museums, indigenous, material culture, Taiwan, translation, boundary objects, canoes]

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This article explores how museums in Taiwan represent a group, called Pingpu, whose indigenous status is highly contested. Pingpu specific cultural features have almost disappeared as a result of centuries of exchanges with Han Chinese settlers. As a consequence, Pingpu groups have not received official indigenous recognition by the Taiwanese government. Yet Pingpu groups are actively seeking recognition through public demonstrations and promoting public awareness of Pingpu concerns. The official recognition of Pingpu’s indigeneity is an ongoing, decades-long, controversial issue in Taiwan. Museums are one of the foci through which Pingpu issues are gaining visibility in Taiwan. But how are they dealing with this controversial issue? More broadly, what position can or should museums take in relation to contested indigenous claims to recognition? This article discusses recent exhibitions representing Pingpu at the light of the politics of representation of indigenous groups and the transformation of museums’ social roles in contemporary Taiwan.