Meg ([info]zombie_boogie) wrote in [info]museumpeople,
@ 2008-04-14 16:59:00
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Hello everyone,

I'm new to the community so I thought I would post a brief introduction along with a few questions I have about an assignment I am working on. I just finished my first year in the Masters of Museum Studies program at the University of Toronto, and my main area of interest is collections management.

I am currently writing a research paper on the display of human remains in museums. The paper is pretty much complete, so don't worry, I'm not asking you to finish my assignment for me! As part of our assignment, our professor has asked students to complete a project that records our attempts to make contact, and hopefully hold discussions, with individuals all over the world about our essay topics.

I would love to hear everyone's opinions on exhibits featuring human remains in museums. In particular, I am interested in what attracts people to these displays. As well, I am doing a bit of an investigation into how these displays compare to the display of the human body in freak shows/carnivals/circuses - the mode of display may be different, but were/are people attracted to the human body in freak shows for the same reasons that they are attracted to bodies in museums? Any thoughts on that topic would also be appreciated.

FYI, some examples I am using in my essay are mummies and the Bodyworlds exhibit.

Thanks in advance! If you respond, please include your country in your entry, as I have to document the location of the people I am contacting.

Crossposted to [info]museum_geeks

ETA: Thank you everyone for your thoughtful replies!

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[info]grace_poppy
2008-04-14 11:13 pm UTC (link)
Oooh, what a cool topic! Well, the most attractive bodies to me are ancient bog people (like the Lindow man) and non-Egyptian mummies. Not that I don't like Egyptian mummies too, but they have so much OTHER stuff going on that they don't even seem much like bodies, plus you usually can't see anything if they're all wrapped up. I like those bog people and mummies because it's fascinating to see an actual PERSON from so LONG ago, not just their artifacts or their dwellings, but the people themselves. It's amazing. Plus, it's so unusual to look at bodies anyway, for most of us. Seeing someone we knew dead in an open casket is rather shocking, because they were so recently alive and we're used to seeing them alive. But someone nameless who has been dead for a long time doesn't bother me - it's like they've become an artifact of themselves. But still something fascinating.

I think the impersonality of the Bodyworlds exhibit would be ok with me. I love anatomy, and I'm not averse to dissection, and the exhibit sounds very interesting. I've heard conflicting reports on how the bodies were obtained though, and that's a bit disturbing. But maybe that's a different similar spinoff exhibit...? I heard originally that they were all people who donated their bodies to be plasticized, but I've heard conflicting stories that they were death penalty inmates from China, and that's unpleasant. I wouldn't want to get enjoyment from someone's (possibly unjust) death. I mean, the Lindow man was killed as a human sacrifice (they think), but his body wasn't "harvested" to go on display for people's enjoyment. Or maybe those rumors I heard about the Chinese inmates were completely false?

I'm not sure how I would feel about a body of someone like Lenin - not because of who he was, but just because it's preserved to look... fresh. That would be kind of creepy, but I'm not sure why. Maybe the same way that wax museums are creepy. I'd certainly jump at the chance to SEE Lenin's body, because one shouldn't miss opportunities like that. Plus it would be amazing to see him and think, "Wow, that's the guy." But, like with open casket funerals, I don't like seeing the body. I usually avoid it if I can.

Again, I think the impersonality helps. I've read the story of Minik and his own father's skeleton going on display, and what an AWFUL shock that must have been for him to find it! I can certainly sympathize with him for being upset. It was wrong on so many levels. But the impersonal skeletons of strangers on display - that wouldn't be so bad, still having a bit of mystery around them.

There was an expedition to find the northwest passage in the 19th century, Franklin's expedition (if you've heard of it). It was tragic and everyone died in the frozen north, their ships crushed in ice, the men starving and even going mad. There were many recovery parties sent out in later years to find out what happened, but they didn't find much (and many MORE people died on those expeditions). But recently thye found the bodies of a couple of the men who were the first to die, buried in actual graves, and they look almost perfectly preserved. It's fascinating to look at them, but also a bit horrible and very sad. Those are bodies I would not want on display. I believe they buried them again, back where they found them. That seems right. I think it's because of the personal factor that I feel that way - knowing who they are and how they died and what they suffered, from written accounts. It seems too tragic to put on display.

That was a looooong answer!

Oh, and I'm not interested in freak shows - at least, well, I would never attend one or voluntarily pick up a book or watch a TV show about living "freaks." That seems cruel to the people, since we've been taught not to stare or laugh at people who are different. But I would like to go to a place like the Mutter Museum. It sounds interesting. (Again, I love anatomy.) But I'd still rather look at "normal" bog people than "freakish" people.

I'm from the USA.

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[info]grace_poppy
2008-04-14 11:22 pm UTC (link)
Oh, also, I think the displays that I like are usually NOT like freak shows - like the Lindow man or ice mummies, etc. They're usually more thoughtfully museumish, on display for the interestingness factor, and usually somewhat disarming. Like the way an adult might offer to show a child a snake or an insect that might usually be seen as creepy, but when the adult says "Look at how smooth and shiny he is! Do you want to hold him? See how he moves?" then the child becomes interested and sees the fascinating side.

Freak shows, and maybe the Mutter Museum, and even Bodyworlds I think aim to shock the viewer, perhaps even gross you out by accentuating the abnormal. That's more like someone startling you and saying "BLAH, I'VE GOT A SNAKE!" and waving it in your face.

I know the Bodyworlds exhibit claims to be all scientific, but honestly, it's meant to have a shock factor too.

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[info]grace_poppy
2008-04-16 04:05 am UTC (link)
I just had another thought. I think I view the dead bodies like the Lindow man ALMOST like photographs. Like if we were able to see a photograph of a real man who lived in the iron age - that would be fascinating! But since photography wasn't invented then, this is the next closest thing. He's all discolored and misshapen, but we're able to imagine what he looked like when alive.

On the flip side, I feel the same way about "disrespecting" a body. If someone dug up my great-grandfather's remains, I think I would feel the same amount of offense as if they pointedly ripped up his photograph in front of me. I know the body isn't really HIM, just like the photograph isn't really him. I would still be offended and sad. But I believe his soul is in heaven so it doesn't worry me too much.

(Hmm, but also, I'm an art conservator so I'd feel an especial shock at seeing a photograph ripped up. ;D So maybe I'm weird.)

Such a fascinating topic!

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[info]rejectedrealism
2008-04-16 09:42 pm UTC (link)
the bodies in Bodyworld are all donated to science, the inventor of the process called plastination (or something like that) is involved with that exhibit and to my knowledge none of the others. there are, however, very many spin-offs from Bodyworld that use bodies from suspect and/or undocument sources. one example is the travelling exhibit simply called Bodies that came through my city recently.

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[info]lyricon
2008-04-15 03:05 am UTC (link)
A couple of thoughts, aimed both at the original post and the first response;

I am not religious at all. I kind of hover between agnosticism and atheism, but one of the things that routinely worries me about seeing bodies in museums (especially Egyptian mummies) is the religious aspect. After death these bodies (and those of many ancient peoples now on display in museums) were treated according to their religious beliefs, in some cases in direct correlation with the manner of their afterlife. When these bodies show up in museums, it seems to imply that we are disrespecting their religious beliefs, and, on the off chance that they were right, denying them a proper afterlife. That sounds silly, because most people these days don't believe in Isis and Anubis, but the ancient Egyptians held very firmly to their beliefs.

I guess that's how I feel on my more agnostic days. When I am in a more scholarly, athetistic frame of mind, I find ancient human remains on display to be absolutely fascinating. As the earlier poster mentioned, just looking at the body of a person, a real person who was alive 10,000 years ago is stunning. It provides such a rich connection with history, with the passage of time and place. It also provides an excellent opportunity to study the evolution of humankind, the genealogy, the technological advances. I love it.

I think this fascination is significantly different than the fascination that people might have with "freak shows", and as the poster above mentioned, Bodyworlds might very well toe that line. But I won't deny that freak shows have a certain attraction. For me, at least, it's not about laughing or making fun of someone else, but rather it's about being interested in our differences, just frankly enamored of the variety of humanity. Pushing the boundaries of belief, in a way, and stepping outside of the ordinary.

Anyway, just a few of my own thoughts. I am also in the U.S.

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Florida - U.S.A
[info]rejectedrealism
2008-04-16 09:37 pm UTC (link)
Exhibits like Bodyworlds are interesting to me because of the opportunity to learn about my own body. I walk around in the thing everyday and it's interesing to take a step back and look at it more objectively. It never ceases to amaze me how incredible human bodies are and to think of yourself as part of that is simultaneously empowering and humbling.
At the local science museum here in Tampa we had the "rip-off" version of Bodyworlds called Bodies come through sometime last year. The chair of my anthropology department did some work with it if you want to check out her research, her name is Dr. Elizabeth Bird.
Hope this helps!

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[info]themonkeysmeow
2008-04-17 03:43 am UTC (link)
I am drawn to human remains in museums due to my background in physical anthropology. I am however, not a huge fan of Bodyworlds. I believe it started out as a way for people to learn more about the human body, but it turned into a "look what I can do" exhibit. I actually took a grad class where we focused on Bodyworlds. I would be happy to talk about our findings if you are interested. Starrling2atgmaildotcom.

Another example you could use is the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. http://www.collphyphil.org/mutter.asp

-Chandler AZ USA

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