A Nationalist Propaganda

The Smithsonian Institution claims that they are the world's largest museum and research complex. They include 19 museums and galleries and the National Zoological Park. Most Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are free and open every day of the year except December 25. For want of time and space in this review I write about National Air and Space Museum and National Museum of the American Indian. These two museums, as I see it were explicit in their purpose of existence.

Let’s look at some of the major artifacts on display in the National Air and Space Museum. The Wright Flyer which was built by the Wright Brothers occupies a prominent place in the museum. This is the original aircraft and not just a re-construction. Skylab 4 Command Module, a crew cabin for going to and from Skylab, the first U.S. space station. A replica of the Voyager-200 engine from the Voyager aircraft could be found in the welcome centre. The commonality between the above mentioned artifacts and every other artifact on display in the Air and Space Museum was from the United States. Of course, no other country apart from United States has contributed to the development of this field.

The story is quite different when it comes to National Museum of the American Indian. The museum is housed in a beautiful building with an artificially created waterfalls and pleasing surroundings. The interiors of the museum are no less extravagant. The welcome area has some sample exhibits that gives you an idea of the objects used by Native Americans. The feeling of ‘exotic’ is certainly not lost. Since, I don’t seem to have pictures from my visit to substantiate my claims; I started looking at other sources. It becomes more amusing, when I looked at the conservation staff. None of them have a specialized degree in ‘Native American studies’ and in fact one of them have a minor in Art history, French, Chinese. It would be interesting to know, if any of them have a Native American origin. Marian Kaminintz is the Head of Conservation of the museum, she gave a talk titled ‘A conservator’s perspective’ and the introduction to the talk says, “The museum was established by an Act of Congress in 1989, the museum works in collaboration with the Native people of the Western Hemisphere to protect and foster their cultures by reaffirming traditions and beliefs, encouraging contemporary artistic expression, and empowering the American Indian voice”( http://www.r2.co.nz/20041209/). From the above statement, it is apparent that the feeling of ‘exotic’ is intended. Capitalization of ‘N’ in Native is not a random mistake of mine. America is of course considerate of the weak and believes in pushing them forward and recognising their independence.

Take away from these two museums - America is a superpower and has reached far places of the universe. Although they have achieved great heights, they are humble and are ever so considerate of the weak.