Part 4: PROBLEMATIC EXHIBITS

1.
Discuss how the Russian Ethnographic Museum had to adapt their exhibit on Siberia to
Soviet rule according to the article: Hirsch, Getting to Know the Peoples of the USSR:
Ethnographic Exhibits as Soviet Virtual Tourism, 1923-1934." Compare with their current
website: http://eng.ethnomuseum.ru/.
According to the article the original purpose of exhibits was to show off to everyone, the new
people of USSR, people that were experiencing a period of unusually rapid economic and
cultural uplift (p.683). The museum had three important purposes. First museum was a place
where organizations could bring their educational materials such as photographs, articles, and
folklore. Second the location of museum was highly visited. Third the museum provided its
visitors with an opportunity to learn about other parts of the Soviet Union because exhibits in the
museum were supposed to be accurate representations of other regions.
After the revolution the Soviet Union wanted to show everyone that it was no longer
backward, its progress over the years and the fact that it was a united multinational state. To
achieve this, the exhibit was divided into four sections with Siberia being the fourth. The Siberia
exhibit had to change after the protest by Leningrad Department of Education or LONO group
which happened in April 1927. The officials concluded that instead of focusing on physical
characteristics, language, religion it would be better to focus on actual achievements of the
region such as economic progress, industrialization, creation of new schools, science academies.
The idea was to have an exhibit that would show progression of people from less to more
developed (p.639). Under the supervision of Potapov the new exhibit showed law of
development by stages (p.705), which described the stages of evolution in the region according
to Marxist stages. The new exhibit showed how people went from primitive communism and
feudalism, through capitalism, and toward socialism and communism (p.705).
Looking at The Russian Museum of Ethnography website, one can see we have come a long
way in terms of representation, yet some of things are similar to the original exhibits from the

early 1900s. First the website has four different regions with Siberia and the Far East being
one of them. The website gives the history of the region going back as far as 16th century; it also
lists spoken languages, different families of indigenous peoples. Underneath the description one
can see old black and white pictures of indigenous peoples. Under the Siberia tab the page is
broken up in to different subsections. Under the culture section the site talks about different
types of indigenous peoples and where they live, it also talks about shamanism. Under the
shaman tab one can read the description of a shaman and their training, read about costumes.
Each page has black and white pictures of shamans and indigenous peoples. By clicking on
different regions one can see more black and white pictures of people and their description. This
site functions as propaganda because I could not find any negative information about the region.
The site does not mention living conditions of indigenous peoples or how shamanism used to be
illegal. There is no reference of how badly people in Siberia were treated throughout the years or
how the region was and still is exploited.
2.
Discuss one of the following as an ethnographic exhibit:

Video: The Human Zoo Science's Dirty Little Secret (discuss the video itself)
The Human Zoos purpose was to educate people by bringing the world to the public. These
exhibitions were designed for entertainment and to show the white man superiority. Samuel
Phillips Verner was the explorer at the beginning of 20th century who brought Ota Benga to the
United States. At first his main purpose was to bring the two cultures together because he
realized how smart pigmies were and how in tune they were with nature and later he focused on
financial perspectives. On the way to the U.S. pigmies were very curious about the surroundings
in a way they were doing the exploring. According to Verner pigmies were humans just like us in
every single way.
Human Zoos were very popular back then and major cities such as Paris and London had
one. As time went on the exhibits became larger and larger. They went to such extend as to

reconstruction of the entire villages and fights. Human Zoos became a perfect environment for
scientists to study people. William McGee was the man behind the blurred line between
entertainment and science. He wanted to create the largest science experiment in order to prove
his theory white superiority. Human Zoos were influenced by the cultural beliefs at the time and
they were designed to celebrate human progress Even with such biased views some people began
to realize that Africans are not as primitive as was thought and that their culture was just as
complex. However, majority of the people went away with their racist ideas reinforced which
created scientific racism. In 1906 Ota Benga became the missing link, he was placed in a cage
with a monkey in New York Zoo. Its purpose was to support scientific racism by suggesting that
Africans were more like monkeys than white people. People believed that the white race was
threatened by the inferior classes. These ideas evolved into eugenics.
Human Zoos were a good idea for one purpose, it was a good place to get exposure of other
cultures and see the human physical differences from other parts of the world. Human Zoos had
the ability to provide a great leaning opportunity for everyone attending the fair. If people were
open minded they could have learned a great deal of things from other cultures. It fails as an
ethnographic exhibit because the people in charge and the observers had a one-sided view of
reality.
3. In a separate answer, discuss one of the following as an ethnographic exhibit:

Video: "Evenk Case Study Athabasca University Anthropology 610"

Evenk people have a close relationship with nature and reindeer. Reindeer farms require a lot
of land, time and energy. For Evenky, reindeer is their way of life and a symbol of status in the
community, people that do not have reindeer are considered to be to poorest and the most
misfortunate. Evenky rely on nature for survival as the result of that they need to follow strict
rules of nature when it comes to hunting or growing food.

Their mentality is different from the Russian. The Russian mentality is consumer based
whereas Evenky focus on survival necessity, which means taking only what they need. Their
different mentality can be seen in other areas of their lives. They focus on long lasting
relationships, unity of people, nature and assistance. Evenk believe in universal unity, that is why
sharing and fluidity is a big part of their culture and they lived that way until the Soviet Union
establish state owned farms. Evenk were forced to consolidate which caused them distance
themselves from their true practices and beliefs. The Soviet rule caused cultural and natural
disruption and changed the social structure. Now Evenks are forced to fight one another over
land use borders. Unfortunately when they do get the land, they are required to pay a high tax
and every 25 years the land contract has to be renewed because the land is owned by the
government. Now the indigenous peoples are relying on organization called the Russian
Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North to fight for their rights and legal issues which are
essential for their survival.
This film is a good ethnographic exhibit because its a first person exposure of the area and
some of the problems of occupants that live there. She gives background information of the
Evenk people such as their beliefs, and lifestyle. She talks about the reasons for disruption of
their way of living, reconciliation of land and its restructure, and how the government and
Evenks have been working towards renewed trust. Leslie also talks about mineral explorations
and exploitations of supposedly preserved lands. She tries to explain how the ancient and modern
traditions are fighting each other in order to survive.