A museum, the city, and a nation

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to understand how a corporate museum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia works to create proleptic myths of nationhood to under-gird a broader state-centric project of nationalist—capitalist modernization. The article examines how these myths are expressed in the museum's design plans and are manifested in the museum's displays and spatial layout. From this analysis it becomes apparent that, first, the museum's designers intend for Malaysian museum-goers to both learn and embody particular myths of national modernization. Second, the museum's displays are dedicated to establishing a Malay-centric origin narrative for the contemporary nation-state. Third, as one moves through the museum, Malay-centrism gives way to narratives of a `multi-racial' society that link technological modernization with social progress. Eventually, however, `race' is trumped by `class' as the social identity category deemed appropriate for `information age' citizenship and nationhood in

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Postprint ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; In: Cultural Geographies ; 15 (2008) 1 ; 119-142

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 2008
• Creator: Lepawsky, Joshua

Further information

• DOI: 10.1177/1474474007085781
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-231843
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 11:00 AM CEST