For this week I took a look at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. \u00a0I visited this museum once when I was a child and wanted to revisit it to see how it may have changed….or not. \u00a0A map of all the floors is available\u00a0here:\u00a0https:\/\/naturalhistory.si.edu\/visit\/museum_map\/floor_plans\/index.html.<\/p>\n
The categories at first blush seem fairly standard: gemstones, fossils, an interactive butterfly exhibit (which is a little more out of the ordinary, but still understandable), etc. \u00a0But the areas that caught my attention most were the exhibits about certain bits of human history and culture. \u00a0These are filed under a larger sub-heading of “Human Diversity” and I appreciate that some attention was given to acknowledging that putting people in a natural history museum is a little off-putting. \u00a0Randomly, at least that’s how it seems to me, sprinkled among exhibits on ocean life and live bugs, human “categories” could easily become Conn’s “anthropological objects” which struck such tension in class this last week. \u00a0To some extent I think this is still true, for example, why is there a pocket of Korean culture buried in the Dinosaur exhibit? \u00a0This strikes me as almost a fetishizing of a certain group, simply because the Museum had access to the materials. \u00a0That may be a bit harsh, but it still seems out of place in a Natural History museum.<\/p>\n
In addition, the mummies, presumably largely Egyptian, and “African Voices” sections of the museum make a nod to the ancient history of humans, but without more information it is hard to determine the agency given to this history and their relics. \u00a0I hope that the title “African Voices” means that the history of the rich and varied continent where human life began (seemingly an appropriate topic for this museum) is better expressed than in previous years, but I admit to some skepticism. \u00a0The mission of this museum is to show snippets of the history of our world, both the environment and human growth. \u00a0But how effectually humans are added to this mix and how effectually “snippets” can show the pain and triumph of the human condition remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
In an\u00a0alternate system of categorization, I may leave out humans entirely. \u00a0There is little agency in a natural history exhibit and to some extent, that is fine, because rubies and dinosaur bones really have little shaping force in our world. \u00a0But alternately, human impact on the world should not be entirely discounted. \u00a0However, the only Museum of Man I have ever heard of was on Crete and it was a problematic (to say the very least) display of historical redaction.\u00a0But in my imaginary museum of human life on Earth, each room, category, and theme would hopefully display the highs and lows of the cultures and histories of represented peoples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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