From the Diorama to the Dialogic : A Century of Exhibiting Africa at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History

Abstract

The article begins with a brief history of anthropological collections of African material culture at the Smithsonian from the 1860's to the present. It, then, analyses the history of permanent African exhibits at the Smithsonian and the relationship of each exhibit to specifie anthropological theories. The museum's first permanent exhibit was on view from the end of the 19th century to the 1960's. Its second permanent exhibit opened in the late 1960s and was closed in 1992 amid public controversy. The final section of the article examines the development of the current permanent exhibition, African Voices, which is schedulted to open in late 1999. It explores the issue of representation of Africa and Africans in public museums and examines the development process for the new exhibit. This process has involved the active participation of various stakeholder communities in the conceptualization and realization of the exhibition.