I was disappointed with my recent visit to the Museum of Natural History. I hadn't been there in quite a while, but walking into the Asian animals room immediately brought back memories of how the museum gives me some serious creeps. I started looking at the museum map, which indicated rooms for "Asian Peoples" and "African Peoples," which also made me feel odd. It had the clear purpose of taxonomizing "them" as a racialized other. Beyond that, when we entered the exhibits, the plaques read as if each of these "peoples" were in a vacuum - this is what happens in Hindu marriages and this is what jihad means for ever and always. The curators were very sure of their ideas, but the words seemed just about as accurate and nuanced as the taxidermy animals seemed alive.
In fact, the only exhibit that I was particularly impressed with was the floor dedicated to dinosaurs - on that floor there were signs that said some absolutely magical things. "Little is known." "Probably." "Potentially." And, my favorite, "it is yet to be discovered..."
It might not be abundantly clear why this is so fabulous. Shouldn't I prefer definitive plaques over wishy washy ones? But these words got me excited. It was a small admission by the curators of the museum (in whatever convoluted language they desired) that they didn't know.
And that phrase, "I don't know" is the first crack in the ornamental vase from which curiosity can flow.
