Abstract
Museums of natural history are major sites of global tourism, with an abundance of visual artefacts. This research examines the presence of sound and acoustics within these institutions, specifically of exhibitions relating to animal (beyond human) acoustics, as auditory communication and sense. Are these museums focused on sights and not sounds of natural history? These museums in major capital cities attract huge numbers of visitors, continuing their long trajectory as research institutions and tourist destinations with overt educational goals. As such, research-based evidence around the operation of these very institutions, specifically from the perspective of acoustics and sound is of practical relevance (for institutional decision-making) and theoretical significance, contributing to discussions around transformation and impact. This multidisciplinary research is primarily in conversation with performance studies, ecoacoustics, sound studies, museum studies, and environmental studies. Using a qualitative framework, data gathering has taken place with in-situ observation in ten institutions and through web presence analysis. Results demonstrate that animal acoustics—as descriptions, within exhibitions or as sound samples—rarely feature in these museums (for example, dead birds in glass cases devoid of sound). In these times of global environmental urgency, my evidence demonstrates that these institutions are stuck in problematic pasts, rooted in colonial discovery and collecting of objects, offering visitors an ecosystem with overt paucity. Taking this research would seek models of good practice to enable transformations providing tourists engagement with sound heritages for sound futures.
Presenters
Ruth HellierProfessor, Performing Arts, Feminist Studies, Latin American Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Critical Issues in Tourism and Leisure Studies
KEYWORDS
Sound; Exhibitions; Animals; Environment; Natural History; Museums; Ecoacoustics; Communication
