From Preservation to Participation: Cultural Memory and Community Practice in a Folk Sports Museum
Abstract
Museums are increasingly recognised as active spaces for cultural interpretation rather than passive repositories of historical artefacts. In the field of sports heritage, existing studies have mainly focused on collections, exhibition practices, and institutional functions, while relatively limited attention has been given to how museums contribute to the reconstruction of cultural memory, particularly in relation to local folk sports. This study examines the role of folk sports museums in historical preservation and memory reconstruction by proposing a three-dimensional analytical framework consisting of objects, events, and people. A qualitative case study approach is adopted, focusing on the Minnan–Taiwan Songjiang Array Museum in Liantang Village, Xiamen. Data were collected through document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and field observation. The findings suggest that the value of folk sports museums lies not only in the preservation of material artefacts, but also in the ways cultural memory is reconstructed through narrative interpretation and human participation. By conceptualising the museum as a three-dimensional memory space, this study provides insights into how folk sports heritage is sustained within community-based museums and contributes to a broader understanding of cultural memory construction in sports heritage contexts.
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References
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