I Bitch-Slap The AMNH

Last May, I got really pissed at the AMNH. So, I decided to write them a letter. I finished it just now, and I am sending it tomorrow.

. . . . .

27 July 2006

Dr. Charles Spencer
Chair, Division of Anthropology
The American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79^th Street
New York, NY 10024-5192

Dear Dr. Spencer:

I recently visited the American Museum of Natural History for the first time. I am a previous employee at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, recipient of a B.A. in anthropology and art history from the University of Illinois, and now a graduate student in African art history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Given my background, I was absolutely thrilled to examine the AMNH’s storied ethnographic and anthropological collections from both an aesthetic and critical standpoint.
And I was shocked.

It is my opinion that all of the exhibits in your museum’s anthropology sections are uninformative almost to the point of racialized ignorance toward the peoples whose cultures are being displayed. At no point during any exhibit, especially those of the peoples of Africa, did I feel I gained an appreciation for the diversity, beauty, or outstanding contributions to human culture of any of these societies.

In the large gallery of the peoples of Africa, I found myself hard pressed to identify an object to a specific cultural group. Most vividly, I recall a display of wooden sculptures from central Africa, none of which were identified to a specific group, location, or even given a local name. I distinctly recall seeing in this display a statue (ndop) of the most famous and influential kings of the Kuba Empire (in present-day Congo), Shyaam a-Mbul a Ngoong “the Great” (enthroned c. 1625). This man was, arguably, as influential and powerful in central Africa as Louis XIV was in western Europe. Yet I saw no discussion of his life, his empire, his accomplishments, the accomplishments of the people he ruled, or even the decorated histories and graceful artistic and cultural creations of any of his neighboring peoples. He, as so many African peoples in your displays, is presented not as a member of a distinct culture inside the world’s most linguistically and genetically diverse continent – but a nameless member of a “homogenized” African society which you choose to differentiate by topography, as if Africans are ruled by their landscape rather than ruling over it.

But even worse, I saw on repeated occasions that you referred to various African objects as “fetishes.” Only three years ago, I and the thirty other members of my introductory African art course saw this word used to describe Bamana (in Mali) chi wara antelope headdresses on a French colonial postcard from the early 1900s. This word, my professor told us, is a racist and generalizing term for African sculpture, used by people who refused to investigate these peoples due to their own ignorance and ethnocentricity. And I now see this word used in your displays. I find this nothing short of appalling.

This is not to say that your museum is incapable of greatness. The AMNH was founded to be the world’s foremost natural history museum, and undoubtedly its collections must be ranked among the finest and most extensive in the world. And undoubtedly its exhibit designers and curators are greatly skilled, as evidenced by your work in the absolutely fantastic “Darwin” exhibit. “Darwin” was beautifully organized, brilliantly written, containing the perfect balance of visual aids and text, as well as fascinating artifacts, videos, and displays that kept me interested to the very end. If your entire museum were organized only half as well as “Darwin” was, you would surely be the finest natural history museum in the world.

My experience at the Field Museum taught me all too well that updating exhibits to both do away with outdated ideals and to reflect new perspectives can be very costly. Finding finances for museums in this day and age is exceedingly difficult at best. But the American Museum of Natural History has a duty to ensure that its exhibits be as balanced, informative, and engaging as possible; not only for the benefit of the peoples being represented, but for the thousands of visitors who tour your institution every year. Every exhibit in your museum will affect how these people view foreign cultures for the rest of their lives – especially if they are permanent New York residents who may never visit another natural history museum. I urge you, if you are not already doing so, to being creating a plan to reinstall your anthropology galleries to reflect the contemporary status of world peoples, where they exist not as static symbols of locales, but as dynamic, changing contributors to our global society.

I would be more than happy to provide further thoughts or collaborate with you on this issue.

. . . . .

I think I managed to sound concerned and upset, yet not a complete ass. We will see what kind of response I get (if any).