ABSTRACT

Natural history museums legitimate and motivate social and political actions through their representations of science-society relations. The Carnegie Natural History Museum has brought narratives of the Anthropocene into its museum spaces, offering novel representations and understandings of human-nature and science-society relations. As a contested concept, the Anthropocene entails at least two tensions in how it might be represented, encouraging different kinds of social and political projects: the Anthropocene may encourage new political formations and opportunities as well as new, better relations between science and society. Motivated to engage with the Anthropocene out of commitments to affirm a strong and pronounced social role of the scientific community, museum actors defend scientific authority through appeals to reflexive scientific processes and science's necessary relations with other modes of thought. Reflexive scientific processes allow scientists and scientific institutions to manage their social and political values, while science's relations with artistic and ethical thinking legitimizes the use of science in responses to explicitly political and social problems. The Carnegie Museum enacts these bases for authority through its Anthropocene narratives, re-drawing the boundaries of scientific authority to include political questions while simultaneously making the boundaries between legitimate, scientific knowledge and other modes of thought less salient.

摘要

自然历史博物馆通过其科学与社会关系的表征来合法化并激发社会和政治行动。卡内基自然历史博物馆将人类世的叙述带入其博物馆空间，以新颖的表现形式以及对人与自然以及科学与社会关系的理解。作为一个有争议的概念，人类世界在其代表方式上至少存在两种​​张力，从而鼓励了各种社会和政治项目：人类世界可以鼓励新的政治形式和机会以及科学与社会之间新的，更好的关系。出于与人类世界互动的积极性，出于承诺确认科学界具有强大而显着的社会作用的承诺，博物馆演员通过呼吁反思性科学过程以及科学与其他思维方式的必要关系来捍卫科学权威。反思性的科学过程使科学家和科学机构能够管理其社会和政治价值，而科学与艺术和伦理思想的关系则使使用科学来应对明确的政治和社会问题合法化。卡内基博物馆通过其人类世纪为这些权威奠定了基础，重新划定了科学权威的界限，以包括政治问题，同时也使合法，科学知识与其他思维方式之间的界限不那么突出。反思性的科学过程使科学家和科学机构能够管理其社会和政治价值，而科学与艺术和伦理思想的关系则使使用科学来应对明确的政治和社会问题合法化。卡内基博物馆通过其人类世纪为这些权威奠定了基础，重新划定了科学权威的界限，以包括政治问题，同时也使合法，科学知识与其他思维方式之间的界限不那么突出。反思性的科学过程使科学家和科学机构能够管理其社会和政治价值，而科学与艺术和伦理思想的关系则使使用科学来应对明确的政治和社会问题合法化。卡内基博物馆通过其人类世纪为这些权威奠定了基础，重新划定了科学权威的界限，以包括政治问题，同时也使合法，科学知识与其他思维方式之间的界限不那么突出。