As grateful as I am to Carl Akeley for preserving natural history and making the modern museum experience tangible for almost 100 years I am a little disgusted. I am not a PETA activist nor do I feel guilt for the death of an animal in the name or science, a "greater good," if you will. But I do have a quam with him for planning multiple safaris to Africa for the express reason of proving that the hunting of animals is family friendly by inviting women and children to hunt. Perhaps their invitation was to alleviate his own conscience. Putting aside hunting as proof of manhood, the sublime racism of the myth of the "native," and the cruelty of placing one exotic animal's life above another, Akeley's expeditions are teetering on noble and trigger happy. Turn of the century was a different time, place and way of thinking especially for the men who want to educate the unwashed masses, but taking kids to see a majestic beast cut down by a bullet is trying to normalize something that goes against nature. (Alpha males ie bull giraffes and silverback gorillas don't just die and disappear suddenly, and by interfering in the animal dynamic we throw off their natural equilibrium) I know Akeley was shooting for "telling the truth" within his dioramas, but I think after a certain quota this becomes cruel. Bronzed scenes of these animals, large paintings or artificial mannequins would have been a better alternative. I am pleased that Akeley worked to protect the Congo by opening nature preserves and expressing his concern for extinction but I can't help but feel that it's inadequate because so many animals were dying the second they came in contact with his camp. Not to mention the testosterone fueled "adventure" or it all. To me this seems like the classic white man dressed up as an anthropologist with a rifle and a butterfly net who thinks he's doing everyone a favor by intruding on foreign land, killing species beyond necessary and then calling his hunting a scientific trip. He really pushed the boundary between natural science and normalized bloodsport.
--Jewel Brooks
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Haraway’s Teddy Bear Patriarchy was an interested analysis of Akeley and of the themes of Teddy Bear Patriarchy: exhibition, eugenics, and conservation. The entire essay is essentially a look at hunting and taxidermy as used to preserve a perceptibly threatened manhood, manhood in the sense of being a man/male, and in the sense of being human. While on hunting expeditions, Akeley set rules that would establish his role as being superior, or more human, than the native Africans; these rules, such as “a black boy must never shoot without orders,” (Pg. 51) established Akeley as a patriarch and as a man. Through calling the native Africans “boys” and through treating them as inferior, at times classifying them as wildlife, Akeley reinforced, or justified, his dominance over them, much like his dominance over the animals he was there to protect.
ReplyDeleteNot only does killing and mounting an animal show dominance over a species, but it, as justified by Akeley, is necessary for conservation. “Akeley feared the gorilla would be driven to extinction before it was adequately known to science.” (Pg. 28) Akeley’s logic for killing was based on his assurance that it would result in preservation and sanctuary for the animals, although he was contradicting himself through his actions. He states that animals “have no enemy but man and are at peace among themselves,” (Pg. 45) acknowledging that he is part of the problem, that he is the enemy, yet he went on a murderous spree when he was gathering gorilla specimens. “Akeley and his party had killed or attempted to kill every ape they had seen since arriving in the area.” (Pg. 27) I was surprised by the contradictions in Akeley’s actions and beliefs, though I felt that these contradictions were needed to accomplish his goals of capturing/representing the truth of nature.
I was also interested in the idea of manhood being represented in the “typical” specimen because the “typical” specimen seemed to be a specimen that represented Akeley’s ideas of manhood—ideas that Akeley used to judge his own manhood, such as a lack of cowardice or the idea of being an “equal.”
Unrelated Afterthought: I wish Alice Gray were my grandma; she seems (seemed? Is she alive?) to have the perfect ratio of interesting/smart to crazy/weird that an old lady requires to be an awesome grandma.