I am Alvin Ao, I finished my BA anthropology degree at National Taiwan University in 2020.

The days in Taiwan enhance my experience in life and academic vision, which allows me to think further and boarder about my future. When I was an undergraduate student of NTU, I was fascinated by the exhibitions and objects during the visits to different museums(mostly indigenous museums) in Taiwan. Before that, I had never thought about the possibility of interpreting objects in various ways, and I also started to learn the influences of an exhibition on communities. In the final year as an undergraduate student, I started to plan my future by deciding whether to continue my study or find a job and stay in Taiwan. Rewinding my past experiences, I thought my enthusiasm is to study and participate in museum practice, especially exhibitions. Therefore I decided to spend a gap year to experience something special by working in the National Palace Museum as an intern. These experiences yield to a thought of continuing my study after a gap year, and I determined to dig into the field of museum anthropology; therefore, I am here, at the CUHK.

As for my research plan, I want to study the difference and significance of museum anthropology in Hong Kong, Taiwan, or even East Asia context, and to respond to Western museum anthropology theory and research that may be inapplicable in such context, to answer a basic question: why do we need anthropology perspectives in museum practice?  And also to think about does anthropology, museum, or exhibition, irreplaceable in certain social and ethnic groups? Studying museums in anthropology ways may lead us to rethink the social role and importance of the discipline, as museum constructs a site that allows different cultures and voices to meet and crash.