University of Leicester
Browse

Yunci Cai

0000-0003-3503-9565

Associate Professor in Museum and Heritage Studies (Language, communication and culture)

Leicester, UK

I am Associate Professor in Museum and Heritage Studies and Director of Education at the School of Museum Studies University of Leicester. I joined the School of Museum Studies in May 2018 after completing my PhD in Museum and Heritage Studies at the Institute of Archaeology University College London (UCL) in November 2017. I hold a Master of Arts with Distinction in Museum Studies from the UCL Institute of Archaeology and a Bachelor of Social Sciences with First Class Honours in Geography from the National University of Singapore (NUS). I have research interests about the cultural politics and museologies in and of Asia. I am the author of 'Staging Indigenous Heritage: Instrumentalisation Brokerage and Representation in Malaysia' (Routledge 2020), and the editor of 'The Museum in Asia' (Routledge 2025).

Publications

  • The Art of Museum Diplomacy: The Singapore-France Cultural Collaboration in Perspective
  • Staging Indigenous Heritage: Instrumentalisation, Brokerage and Representation in Malaysia
  • Review of Museum of Our Own: In Search of Local Museology for Asia
  • Performing Cultures, Negotiating Identities: The Cultural Politics of Indigenous Cultural Villages in West Malaysia
  • Cleansing the Sacred Mountain in the Aftermath of the 2015 Mount Kinabalu Earthquake
  • Law and Its Impact on Singapore's Built Heritage
  • Museums as Temples of Cultures or Palaces of Entertainment? A Study of New Museums in Singapore
  • ‘Connecting Emotions through Wells’: Heritage Instrumentalisation, Civic Activism, and Urban Sustainability in Quanzhou, China
  • Between Tradition and Modernity: The Ritual Politics of Indigenous Cultural Heritage in Urbanizing Sabah, East Malaysia
  • Mohlukas: A Lotud Housewarming Ceremony at Linangkit Cultural Village
  • Living Landscapes: Breathing New Life into Singapore’s Community Heritage Institutions
  • In the Land of the Ascending Dragon: Vietnam
  • What is in a Museum Definition? Reflections on the ICOM’s New Museum Definition
  • The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Environmental and Heritage Conservation
  • Peranan Pengetahuan Masyarakat Tempatan Dalam Pemuliharaan Alam Sekitar Dan Warisan
  • Peran Pengetahuan Adat Di Dalam Konservasi Lingkungan Dan Warisan Budaya
  • Museum Politics on the Maritime Silk Road
  • Review of 'UNESCO in Southeast Asia: World Heritage Sites in Comparative Perspectives' by Victor T. King
  • Review of 'Heritage and Religion in East Asia' by Shu-Li Wang, Michael Rowlands and Yujie Zhu
  • Indigenous Interpretations and Engagement of China's Belt and Road Initiative in Peninsular Malaysia
  • Review of 'Heritage Politics in China: The Power of the Past' by Yujie Zhu and Christina Maags
  • The Lotud Mamanpang (Creation Myth) in the Sumalud Healing Ritual of the Lotud Dusun Community, Tuaran District, Sabah, East Malaysia. Cultural Documentation Report.
  • Mamanpang Lotud (Mitos Penciptaan) dalam Upacara Penyembuhan Sumalud di Kalangan Komuniti Dusun Lotud, Daerah Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia Timur. Laporan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan.
  • The Ritual Poetry of Lotud Mamanpang (Creation Myth) in the Sumalud Healing Ritual of the Lotud Dusun Community, Tuaran District, Sabah, East Malaysia. Cultural Documentation Report.
  • Puisi Ritual daripada Mamanpang Lotud (Mitos Penciptaan) dalam Upacara Penyembuhan Sumalud di Kalangan Komuniti Dusun Lotud, Daerah Tuaran, Sabah, Malaysia Timur. Laporan Dokumentasi Kebudayaan
  • Teaching Rapid Response Collecting for the Covid-19 Pandemic and the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Movement: Reflections from Leicester’s Museum Studies Programme
  • Museums Need to be Wary they Don’t Fuel Black Market for Illicit Cultural Objects
  • Review of ‘Cosmopolitan Ambassadors: International Exhibitions, Cultural Diplomacy and the Polycentral Museum’ by Lee Davidson and Leticia Perez Castellanos
  • Reviving the Ancient Maritime Silk Road: The Politics of Heritage Instrumentalisation in Asia’s Port Cities of Quanzhou and Melaka
  • The Politics of Heritage Instrumentalisation: A Comparative Study of Two Indigenous Cultural Villages in Malaysia
  • Museumization in Tourism
  • Decolonising Collection Management in an Indigenous Ritual House in Malaysia
  • The Museum in Asia
  • Re-Imagining the Museum
  • A manifesto for museums in Asia
  • Rethinking heritage diplomacy on the maritime Silk Road
  • Reviving the Ancient Maritime Silk Road

Usage metrics

Co-workers & collaborators

Yunci Cai's public data