Visitor experience as translation: Intertextuality and identity in experiences of an American Chinese museum (2024)

Neather, R. J. (2024). Visitor experience as translation: Intertextuality and identity in experiences of an American Chinese museum. Babel, 1-22. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00397.nea

Neather, Robert John. / Visitor experience as translation : Intertextuality and identity in experiences of an American Chinese museum. In: Babel. 2024 ; pp. 1-22.

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title = "Visitor experience as translation: Intertextuality and identity in experiences of an American Chinese museum",

abstract = "This paper explores the museum visitor experience as a form of translation. It argues that if a given exhibition can be seen as a cultural translation, then it is also true that the visitor{\textquoteright}s reading of that exhibition constitutes a further layer of translation, as the visitor enacts their own transformation of the culture on display. The paper draws on intertextuality as a means to understand the ways in which this transformation occurs. It delineates a three-level typology of intertexts employed by the visitor and considers how the use of such intertexts constructs the visitor{\textquoteright}s positionality in regard to the exhibition. The paper focuses on data from a diasporic museum, the Museum of Chinese in America, and applies a methodology involving analysis of TripAdvisor reviews and post-visit diaries to the online museum. The paper concludes that diaspora museums are a case in which the particular nexus of identity issues at work provide a more complex view of the visitor experience as translation.",

keywords = "museum translation, visitor experience, intertextuality, diaspora, Museum of Chinese in America",

author = "Neather, {Robert John}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 F{\'e}d{\'e}ration Internationale des Traducteurs (FIT) Revue Babel",

year = "2024",

month = may,

day = "13",

doi = "10.1075/babel.00397.nea",

language = "English",

pages = "1--22",

journal = "Babel",

issn = "0521-9744",

publisher = "John Benjamins Publishing Company",

}

Neather, RJ 2024, 'Visitor experience as translation: Intertextuality and identity in experiences of an American Chinese museum', Babel, pp. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00397.nea

Visitor experience as translation: Intertextuality and identity in experiences of an American Chinese museum. / Neather, Robert John.
In: Babel, 13.05.2024, p. 1-22.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review

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T1 - Visitor experience as translation

T2 - Intertextuality and identity in experiences of an American Chinese museum

AU - Neather, Robert John

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs (FIT) Revue Babel

PY - 2024/5/13

Y1 - 2024/5/13

N2 - This paper explores the museum visitor experience as a form of translation. It argues that if a given exhibition can be seen as a cultural translation, then it is also true that the visitor’s reading of that exhibition constitutes a further layer of translation, as the visitor enacts their own transformation of the culture on display. The paper draws on intertextuality as a means to understand the ways in which this transformation occurs. It delineates a three-level typology of intertexts employed by the visitor and considers how the use of such intertexts constructs the visitor’s positionality in regard to the exhibition. The paper focuses on data from a diasporic museum, the Museum of Chinese in America, and applies a methodology involving analysis of TripAdvisor reviews and post-visit diaries to the online museum. The paper concludes that diaspora museums are a case in which the particular nexus of identity issues at work provide a more complex view of the visitor experience as translation.

AB - This paper explores the museum visitor experience as a form of translation. It argues that if a given exhibition can be seen as a cultural translation, then it is also true that the visitor’s reading of that exhibition constitutes a further layer of translation, as the visitor enacts their own transformation of the culture on display. The paper draws on intertextuality as a means to understand the ways in which this transformation occurs. It delineates a three-level typology of intertexts employed by the visitor and considers how the use of such intertexts constructs the visitor’s positionality in regard to the exhibition. The paper focuses on data from a diasporic museum, the Museum of Chinese in America, and applies a methodology involving analysis of TripAdvisor reviews and post-visit diaries to the online museum. The paper concludes that diaspora museums are a case in which the particular nexus of identity issues at work provide a more complex view of the visitor experience as translation.

KW - museum translation

KW - visitor experience

KW - intertextuality

KW - diaspora

KW - Museum of Chinese in America

U2 - 10.1075/babel.00397.nea

DO - 10.1075/babel.00397.nea

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0521-9744

SP - 1

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JO - Babel

JF - Babel

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Neather RJ. Visitor experience as translation: Intertextuality and identity in experiences of an American Chinese museum. Babel. 2024 May 13;1-22. Epub 2024 May 13. doi: 10.1075/babel.00397.nea