The College of Cultural Heritage at National Taipei University of the Arts will hold its first Brown Bag Forum of the semester (114-2) on March 26 (Thursday), from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM, at the Cultural Resources Library, 4th Floor, Research Building.
The lecture is titled: “Portraiture, Nation-Building, and Colonial Responsibility: How British and American Museums ‘Revise National History’” The talk will be delivered by Prof. Maki Komori, with moderation by Director Chen-Yen Huang of the Graduate Institute of Museum Studies.
Who do museums tell history for, and how can more pluralistic historical narratives be achieved?
Drawing on the speaker’s recent book Museum of Historical Revision, this lecture explores how museums in the United Kingdom and the United States have, in recent years, attempted to reshape narratives of “national history” and “national identity.”
The lecture will examine:
How museums in Philadelphia, the birthplace of the United States, construct images of “America”
How the National Portrait Gallery in the UK reconfigures the image of “Britain” through portraiture
How museums in Scotland respond to the negative legacies of colonialism through curatorial practices
It will also consider, from the perspectives of publicness and the redistribution of power, the strategies museums employ in exhibition, collection, and education to incorporate historically marginalized groups—including Indigenous peoples, people of color, women, LGBTQ+ communities, and people with disabilities—into historical narratives.
Title: Portraiture, Nation-Building, and Colonial Responsibility: How British and American Museums “Revise National History” Speaker: Prof. Maki Komori (Musashi University, Japan) Moderator: Director Chen-Yen Huang (Graduate Institute of Museum Studies) Date & Time: March 26, 2026 (Thu), 12:30–13:30 Venue: Cultural Resources Library, 4F, Research Building, NTUA Capacity: 30 participants (first come, first served) Registration Period: Now until March 23, 2026, 23:59 Registration Link: https://forms.gle/hUTtWwkGeGTijYPQA
Maki Komori is a professor in the Faculty of Humanities at Musashi University and a research fellow at the Institute for American Studies, Rikkyo University. After completing doctoral coursework at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, she worked as a researcher at Temple University’s Department of History and as a Junior Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.
Her research focuses on American cultural studies and museum studies. She is also active as an art and film critic and has been involved in curating magazines, exhibitions, and alternative spaces.
Her major publications include:
Museum of Historical Revision (Ohta Publishing, 2025)
The Politics of Pleasure: Understanding the Contemporary through “Constructed Histories” and “Sites of Creation” (Kodansha, 2024)
All are warmly welcome to attend. Contact Person: Rui-Hong Weng (PhD Program in Cultural Heritage and Art Innovation, NTUA) Phone: +886-919-516-561
A reminder email will be sent two days before the event. Please check your inbox.
