Nature on Display

Harvard FAS

This course presents a history of nature and science through the setting of the museum and allied institutions. Through visits to collections and museums on campus, we will interrogate how displaying nature is an act of interpretation and how those interpretations reflect contemporary social, political, cultural, and scientific norms. The course will be based around case studies of museums, zoos, botanic gardens, parks, visual art, and visual materials in books. Taught by the co-directors of…