Dawson, Emily;
(2025)
Exploring an Authorized Science Heritage Discourse in Science Museum Exhibitions: Leaflet 1981-1697 / Smallpox Baby Revisited.
Museum & Society
, 23
(1)
pp. 128-144.
10.29311/mas.v23i1.4423.
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Abstract
Based on research in two exhibitions in a science museum in the UK, this paper explores how science and society relationships are constructed through the display of one specific object, a WHO leaflet about smallpox. I trace the display of this leaflet through two exhibitions about medicine, 40 years apart. Drawing on the concept of the authorised heritage discourse and work in Black studies and Science and Technology Studies, I analyse the display of the leaflet, the stories it is used to tell and the modes of relation these stories contribute to. Rather than trying to evaluate which exhibition does a better (or worse) job displaying the leaflet, in this paper I argue that both displays were enmeshed with and reproduce an authorised science heritage discourse. I show how nationalistic, celebratory stories about science set up racialised and colonial modes of relation, and suggest counter-stories, not least critically engaging with the ever-present shadow of colonialism, present museums with valuable opportunities for change.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Exploring an Authorized Science Heritage Discourse in Science Museum Exhibitions: Leaflet 1981-1697 / Smallpox Baby Revisited |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.29311/mas.v23i1.4423 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v23i1.4423 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Copyright remains with the author(s) of the article. This article can be re-used according to the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. |
| Keywords: | Museums, science and technology studies, representation, smallpox, history of medicine, colonialism, racism, authorised science heritage discourse |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Science and Technology Studies |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10207675 |
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