Presenter Information

Kristin Otto, DePauw University

Abstract

In this paper, I will analyze how museum exhibitions use material culture to construct and present a narrative about Africa. Exhibiting material culture reflects the power, authority, and ideology of the exhibitor, sometimes at the expense of the displayed culture’s agency in representation. Museums have a particularly infamous history of distorting African culture in exhibits, often validating racist ideologies. Consequently, zealous museum critics have begun to question the relevance of museums in the future public education. The public, however, continues to visit museums and experience exhibits featuring African objects. Based on the challenges and controversies museums exhibiting African objects face today, I will explore how current museum exhibitions display African objects, and by extension how African cultures are constructed and represented in selected institutions.

This paper is an adapted section of a larger senior thesis involving multiple exhibit case studies. For this paper, I will focus on one case study at the Field Museum’s Africa exhibit. Africa uses in-situ displays to produce an experience for the viewer as they “travel” through various scenes in modern day and historical Africa and America. However, the perspective given to the viewer as a tourist at the beginning of the exhibit shifts dramatically when they suddenly encounter the era of slavery, distancing the viewer from a potentially powerful and resonant topic. The inclusion of the African experience of slavery reflects an attempt to include multiple perspectives of Africa for the visitor, but the execution of the transition in the exhibit distances, rather than connects, the viewer from Africa. Drawing from James Clifford, I argue that it is impossible for museums such as the Field Museum to holistically represent African cultures. However, a critical gaze reveals the strengths and areas for improvement in the museum’s constructed narrative, and the future potential for museums exhibiting African objects.

Start Date

28-3-2014 10:40 AM

End Date

28-3-2014 12:00 PM

COinS
 
Mar 28th, 10:40 AM Mar 28th, 12:00 PM

"Africa in the Museum: The Politics of the Display of African Material Culture at the Field Museum"

Olscamp 101A

In this paper, I will analyze how museum exhibitions use material culture to construct and present a narrative about Africa. Exhibiting material culture reflects the power, authority, and ideology of the exhibitor, sometimes at the expense of the displayed culture’s agency in representation. Museums have a particularly infamous history of distorting African culture in exhibits, often validating racist ideologies. Consequently, zealous museum critics have begun to question the relevance of museums in the future public education. The public, however, continues to visit museums and experience exhibits featuring African objects. Based on the challenges and controversies museums exhibiting African objects face today, I will explore how current museum exhibitions display African objects, and by extension how African cultures are constructed and represented in selected institutions.

This paper is an adapted section of a larger senior thesis involving multiple exhibit case studies. For this paper, I will focus on one case study at the Field Museum’s Africa exhibit. Africa uses in-situ displays to produce an experience for the viewer as they “travel” through various scenes in modern day and historical Africa and America. However, the perspective given to the viewer as a tourist at the beginning of the exhibit shifts dramatically when they suddenly encounter the era of slavery, distancing the viewer from a potentially powerful and resonant topic. The inclusion of the African experience of slavery reflects an attempt to include multiple perspectives of Africa for the visitor, but the execution of the transition in the exhibit distances, rather than connects, the viewer from Africa. Drawing from James Clifford, I argue that it is impossible for museums such as the Field Museum to holistically represent African cultures. However, a critical gaze reveals the strengths and areas for improvement in the museum’s constructed narrative, and the future potential for museums exhibiting African objects.