Paper short abstract:

I discuss the ethical dilemmas faced by a community museum engaged in an urban renewal project that aims to foster community cohesion and grassroots governance, examining whether this advocacy merely serves as a tool for government agendas or genuinely supports residents to achieve positive impact.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the ethical and moral complexities community participatory museums face in rapidly urbanizing contexts, where they intersect governance, cultural identity, and anthropological research. Using Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport New Village as a case study, it focuses on the community museum’s role in an urban renewal project centered on installing elevators in ageing residential buildings, revealing how varied resident needs and unequal access to resources complicate these interventions. As both an NGO worker, government project executor, and researcher, I navigate the ethical tensions between academic integrity, community trust, and the divergent needs of residents, some of whom benefit more from these upgrades than others.

Guided by Lefebvre’s (2004) spatial theory and Peter’s (1999) critique of anthropological ethics, this paper conceptualizes the Community Museum as a “third space,” a venue for resident engagement and negotiation. Beyond infrastructure improvements, the museum’s community art projects seek to bolster local identity and social cohesion, supporting a broader development model of “culture-led” and “community-driven” renewal. These projects aim to provide residents with creative avenues to voice their perspectives and negotiate their living conditions, yet they are also bound by the same structural limitations and inequalities that shape government-backed initiatives.

This study, aligning with the panel’s theme on “ethical-moral mismatches,” proposes an ethics-oriented framework for practice. It explores how anthropologists, in multi-layered roles, can support community museums in advancing social justice and cultural engagement while acknowledging the complex and often uneven impact of urban renewal projects.