Director of Museum Studies
Bryn Mawr College

“Envisioning African Origins: Race, Evolution & Identity in the Natural History Museum”

How is Africa envisioned in the natural history museum? This talk explores how human origins exhibitions and their museum visitors work to mutually produce anthropological ideas about Africa. This is a product of dynamic interplay between museum iconography and popular folklore circulating outside the museum that often continues to stigmatize African people as evolutionary spectacles.