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Joseph Gregory Yu 余尚賢
DPhil, MSc (Oxon), MA (St Andrews)

Current Research 研究計劃

Forthcoming Publication

Yu, Joseph. Forthcoming. Ancestral Halls and 'Modern Temples': Museums in Postcolonial Hong Kong. University of Oxford: PhD Thesis.

Project | 01

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Challenging Colonial History of the World Wars

Decolonisation has been on the agenda of educational reform for many years. Whilst there has been many positive changes, the author argues that there is still much to do for schools to decolonise their curriculum and pedagogy. With a multicultural student population, there is urgent need that teachers invest in engaging with the cultural background of students and challenge the euro-centric history curriculum. How can we problematise the deep-rooted, structural colonial mindset in the history curriculum? How can we utilise culturally responsive pedagogy to inform our teaching that challenges colonial history, and the teaching of challenging history? Drawing from the author's personal experience of decolonisation, former research experience in postcolonial museum ethnography and current classroom teaching experience in history, this chapter looks at how the teaching of history could be transformed using culturally responsive pedagogy. Through the case of history lesson on commonwealth participation in the world wars, the author reflects on how a hitherto euro-centric curriculum could be broadened and decolonised.

Forthcoming Publication

Yu, Joseph. Forthcoming. Ancestral Halls and 'Modern Temples': Museums in Postcolonial Hong Kong. University of Oxford: PhD Thesis.

Project | 02

Ancestral Halls and 'Modern Temples':
Museums in Postcolonial Hong Kong

Museums are socially constructed institutions, so their meanings and roles could be adopted and transformed outside of the West in ways peculiar to local culture. Hong Kong, as a former British colony and a nexus of western and Chinese culture and values, offers a focused case study demonstrating how the imported idea of museums might be localised and transformed. By examining the emergence of non-state museums established by stakeholders outside of the ruling regime in postcolonial Hong Kong, I seek to challenge the established, and essentially western concept of museums.

Forthcoming Publication

Yu, Joseph. Forthcoming. Ready Aye Ready: A Centennial History of T.S. DREADNOUGHT, Greenwich, Deptford and Rotherhithe Sea Cadet Corps. London: T.S. Dreadnought.

Project | 03

Ready Aye Ready: A Centennial History of T.S. DREADNOUGHT, Greenwich, Deptford and Rotherhithe Sea Cadet Corps

T.S. Dreadnought (Greenwich, Deptford and Rotherhithe Sea Cadet Corps) celebrated its centenary in 2020. I was commissioned by the unit to write a historical volume which aimed to retrace its development,  through which to understand the development of Sea Cadets as a youth movement in Britain. How, if at all, have the roles Sea Cadet Corps in the society, as well as their trainings and activities changed through ages? How successful has the Sea Cadet Corps been in achieving aims they set out to fulfil at different points in history? The present research also explores how these changes and continuities reflect contemporary social and political needs in the United Kingdom.

Forthcoming Publication

Yu, Joseph (ed.). Forthcoming. The Queen's College (Hong Kong) Register: 1862-2012. In 3 Vols. Hong Kong: Queen's College History Museum.

Project | 04

The Queen's College (Hong Kong) Register, 1862-2012

Queen’s College (QC) was founded in the name of “Central School” in 1862 and moved from its first campus on Gough Street to Hollywood Road in 1889. Unfortunately, Hollywood Road campus, together with all school records were completely destroyed during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong between 1941-45. That includes the whole school register. In order to piece together the pre-war history of QC, I initiated the OQC & Staff directory project in Summer 2018 to compile all pupil and staff records from 1862 to present. Primary historical materials used include school magazine (The Yellow Dragon), historical photographs and collections, old newspapers, government gazettes and notices. It is estimated that up to 22,000 pupils have enrolled in QC from 1862-1941, 7,989 of which were identified.

Forthcoming Publication

Yu, Joseph. Forthcoming. Four Campuses through Three Centuries: History of Queen's College through its Architectures. Hong Kong: Queen's College History Museum.

Project | 05

Four Campuses through Three Centuries: History of Queen's College through its Architectures

Founded in 1862 as the Government Central School, Queen's College is the first government school in Hong Kong. Within the four campus it once occupied, countless local and world leaders were nurtured. What can we learn from the architectures of Queen's College? The project aims to reconstruct comprehensively and accurately the campus and student life in the past based on primary sources like manuscripts, gazettes, oral history accounts, museum collections, old newspapers, and historical photographs. This project involves the digital reconstruction of two historic campus models using cutting-edge Building Information Management Technology (BIM).

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