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ABSTRACT
This article demonstrates how a teaching case study approach can benefit museum studies courses. It takes as its focus the widely reported rescue of a boys’ football team from a flooded cave in Thailand (2018). The success of this multinational effort led to immediate calls for the establishment of a “living museum” dedicated to remembering what became known as the “Tham Luang cave rescue.” Discussion of the potential form and function of this envisaged museum plus its wider ramifications formed a key component of a newly validated international M.A. program taught in the U.K. and China by local academics and practitioners. Issues addressed include collections management, interpretation and display as well as ethical considerations relating to funding and forward planning. These were debated through groupwork, student presentations and report writing. The article reflects on this experience and the lessons it has for studying museums. It advocates the use of other topical events as the basis for similar teaching case studies on the grounds that this best equips students with the knowledge and skills required in the workplace.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
About the authors
Stuart Burch is a lecturer at Nottingham Trent University and a visiting academic at the Communication University of China. He has taught a variety of subjects including Museum Studies, Heritage Management, Public History, Journalism, and Media Studies. Stuart's book London and the Politics of Memory: In the Shadow of Big Ben is due to be published by Routledge in 2019.
Chen Dongxu specialized in Drama, Television and Set Design during his undergraduate studies at the Communication University of China. He is currently a postgraduate student at ICUC (Faculty of International Media) enrolled on the two-year M.A. Museum and Heritage Development course taught in Beijing and Nottingham. Chen Dongxu has a particular interest in museums as immersive experiences.
Fu Jingjing majored in Graphic Design at Southwest University for Nationalities. She is currently studying M.A. Museum and Heritage Development at the Communication University of China. Fu Jingjing's work has been published in the Creative Change City book issued by the Chengdu Jinjiang district party committee. She wishes to pursue a career in museum exhibition advocacy.
Guan Zhiyi has an undergraduate degree in Advertising from Beijing Technology and Business University and is currently studying M.A. Museum and Heritage Development at the Communication University of China. Inspired by the mantra “nothing is impossible,” Guan Zhiyi enjoys participating in speech contests and sees oratory as an important means of enhancing the cause of museums.
Qi Yu majored in Communication as an undergraduate student at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. She is currently a postgraduate at the Communication University of China's ICUC (Faculty of International Media) enrolled on the two-year M.A. Museum and Heritage Development taught in Beijing and Nottingham. Qi Yu is interested in a career in cultural transmission.
Tang Shuo took Film Studies at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law before specializing in Postproduction as an exchange student at Dongseo University. He has served as executive director for several reality television shows in China. Tang Shuo is currently studying M.A. Museum and Heritage Development at the Communication University of China. He seeks a career in curatorship.
Tian Yi majored in Education at Capital Normal University. After a period of teaching she spent seven years working at China Banknote Printing and Minting Museum and has written several museum-related articles for China's Financial Times. Tian Yi is a passionate advocate of public education in Chinese museums and is keen to promote inter-museum communication across different regions.
Xie Senyang won the POCIB prize (Practice for Operational Competence in International Business) during her undergraduate studies in International Economy and Trade. She is currently a postgraduate at the Communication University of China enrolled on the two-year M.A. Museum and Heritage Development program taught in Beijing and Nottingham. Xie Senyang seeks a career in museum development and cultural communication.
ORCID
Stuart Burch http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8293-1850
Notes
1 Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 219.
2 Lawrence, “Preparation of Case Material,” 215.
3 Gomm, Hammersley, and Foster, Case Study Method, 1–7.
4 Gerring, Case Study Research, 65.
5 Giordano, Solving Education Problems Effectively, 215.
6 Yin, Case Study Research, 19.
7 Garvin, “Making the Case,” 56.
8 Narongsak Osottanakorn in Panu Wongcha-um et al., “Thailand's Tham Luang Cave to Become Museum to Showcase Boys’ Rescue,” Reuters, July 11, 2018. Nexis UK.
9 Ambrose and Paine, Museum Basics; Mason, Robinson, and Coffield, Museum and Gallery Studies.
10 Paül i Agustí, “Differences in Location of Urban Museums,” 493, n. 1.
11 Mason, Robinson, and Coffield, Museum and Gallery Studies, 17–20, 30–5.
12 Brown and Mairesse, “Definition of the Museum.”
13 Ambrose and Paine, Museum Basics, 9.
14 Burch, “Museum Landscapes,” 51.
15 Cf. Oates, Hazards of Time Travel, 157–66.
16 Engström, “The Ecomuseum Concept is Taking Root,” 206–7.
17 Garvin, “Making the Case,” 60.
18 Roberts, “Developing a Teaching Case.”
19 Ibid., 1–2.
20 Burch, “Museum Landscapes.”
21 Lawrence, “Preparation of Case Material,” 215.
22 Gerring, Case Study Research, 19, 82, 108. The word “appropriate” appears in italics in the original.
24 King, “The Social Construction of Heritage,” 7.
25 Bartlett and Vavrus, “Comparative Case Studies,” 903.
26 Garvin, “Making the Case,” 64.
27 Ibid., 65.
28 Loh and Teo, “Understanding Asian Students’ Learning Styles,” 198–9, 205.
29 German and Harris, “Agile Objects,” 248.
30 Jonathan Head, “The Thai Cave Rescue: What Happened Next?” BBC, December 25, 2018, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46538252.
31 Wongcha-um et al., “Thailand's Tham Luang Cave.”
32 Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panarat Thepgumpanat, “Dancers, Pig Heads and Sweets: Thais Thank Cave Spirits for Saving Boys,” Reuters, July 16, 2018. Nexis UK.
33 James Massola, “Chicken, Not Homework: Boys’ Letters from Cave,” Sun Herald (Sydney), July 8, 2018. Nexis UK.
34 Alpers, “Museum as a Way of Seeing,” 26, 31; Csikszentmihalyi and Hermanson, “Intrinsic Motivation in Museums,” 69.
35 Bitgood in Csikszentmihalyi and Hermanson, “Intrinsic Motivation in Museums,” 74.
36 “Lascaux III,” L’Atelier des Fac-Similés du Périgord, http://www.afsp-perigord.fr/realizations/#lascaux-3.
37 Ronan O’Connell, “Thai Cave Famous for Football Team Rescue Now a Tourist Hotspot,” Guardian (London), November 27, 2018. Nexis UK.
38 Lonely Planet, “Chiang Rai,” https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thailand/chiang-rai-province/chiang-rai.
39 Paül i Agustí, “Differences in Location of Urban Museums,” 493.
40 Twain, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 248.
41 Otaka, “Museum Family Programmes,” 40.
42 Ambrose and Paine, Museum Basics, 411.
43 Ibid., 92, 97, 412–14.
44 Mason, Robinson, and Coffield, Museum and Gallery Studies, 138–9.
45 Philip Sherwell, “Boys Thank Saviours – and Dream of KFC,” Sunday Times (London), July 15, 2018. Nexis UK.
46 Mason, Robinson, and Coffield, Museum and Gallery Studies, 136–7.
47 King, “The Social Construction of Heritage,” 26. “Thailand Election Date Set and Campaign Ban Lifted,” BBC, December 11, 2018, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46519396.
48 Jacob Goldberg, “Scenes of Jubilation After Final Boys Rescued from Thai Cave,” The National (Abu Dhabi), July 10, 2018. Nexis UK.
49 Hannah Beech, “Poor, Stateless and Used to Beating Long Odds,” The New York Times, July 11, 2018. Nexis UK.
50 Adam Withnall, “‘Stateless’ Boys and Coach to be Given Thai Citizenship,” Independent (London), July 14, 2018. Nexis UK.
51 Sriprachya-anunt, “Myanmar Migrant Workers as Guests of the Nation,” 31.
52 Drew Harwell, “Musk Sued for Calling Cave Diver a ‘Child Rapist,’” Washington Post, September 18, 2018. Nexis UK.
53 Elizabeth Henderson, “Real Men Are Protectors,” Daily Telegraph (Sydney), July 13, 2018. Nexis UK.
54 Ambrose and Paine, Museum Basics, 6; Mason, Robinson, and Coffield, Museum and Gallery Studies, 2.
55 Csikszentmihalyi and Hermanson, “Intrinsic Motivation in Museums,” 67.
56 Ibrahimović in Warren Muggleton, “Man Utd Fans Label Zlatan Ibrahimović ‘a GOD,’” Star (London), October 16, 2018. Nexis UK.
57 Csikszentmihalyi and Hermanson, “Intrinsic Motivation in Museums,” 73.
58 Within months of the rescue a provisional exhibition had been put together in a Bangkok shopping mall. It featured a pretend cave, through which the boys were directed to crawl, much to the consternation of child psychologists. Jamie Fullerton, “‘This is History’: Bangkok Mall Opens Thai Rescue Display, Featuring Plastic Cave,” Guardian (London), September 1, 2018. Nexis UK.
