The Arizona Science Center on Sunday welcomed a new exhibit exploring race and racial differences using modern science and a historical background.
This exhibit is a nationwide, traveling exhibit created by the American Anthropological Association and the Science Museum of Minnesota.
“The race exhibit is an opportunity to transcend politics, opinions and issues of the day,” said Chevy Humphrey, President and CEO of the Arizona Science Center. “It is about how we view ourselves, how others view us and, perhaps, an indication of who we really are.”
The exhibit uses many different communication techniques to portray race through time. These include both static information — placards, pictures, graphs and maps — as well as interactive activities and multimedia events.
One photograph at the exhibit shows 11 people standing with shirts on, each depicting how they would have been counted in the census in past years.
There are displays around the exhibit showing how the idea of race evolved from ancient civilizations to modern times.
There is also an interactive activity where visitors listen to someone talking, and then try to guess who it was from a wall of over 20 faces.
Another interactive section of the exhibit is a “palette” of skin tones. Visitors scan the backs of their hands into a computer that displays their skin tone along with every other person’s scan.
“I think [the exhibit] is very interesting,” history sophomore Emily Merline said. “Some people will look at the displays, some the pictures, some the videos … it’ll be an eye-opener for a lot of people.”
The exhibit is open to people of all ages, and many events will be held throughout the three months the exhibit will remain in Phoenix.
These events include a variety of speakers, panels and presentations pertaining to race and the impact of race. Most events can be viewed by all ages, but some are geared toward either older or younger audiences.
The first speaker at the exhibit was ASU’s dean of humanities Neal Lester. Lester’s Sunday lecture was on hair and its relationship to the perception of race in society.
“What race does is categorize people, boxes people, instead of bringing people together,” Lester said. “Hopefully an exhibit like this will bring people together despite the boxes.”
The exhibit’s goal is to use modern science to spark conversations about race within families, so people can not only find out more about race in the world, but also their own experiences and opinions on race, Humphrey said.
Humphrey went on to say that the science center is a “safe place” for conversations to take place.
“We can only hope that any such exhibit will allow people to self-reflect, and also look at how they think about the world around them,” Lester said.
The Arizona Science Center expects at least 80,000 people to visit the center in the next three months, including approximately 25,000 young school kids. Many, if not most, of those visitors will see this new exhibit.
It is unknown if this exhibit will bring more people to the center.
“You hope that people will explore race as one of those meaningless factors that doesn’t necessarily have to divide us, but can actually unite us,” Lester said.
Humphrey said she saw a similar exhibit many years ago at the Science Museum of Minnesota and was interested in bringing it to Phoenix. However, the center was unable to get on the list for a while.
The current exhibit, created by the American Anthropological Association, was launched in 2007, according to the organization’s website.
The Science Museum of Minnesota contacted the Arizona Science Center in late 2008 about finally getting the exhibit to the center, Humphrey said.
In January 2009, the Arizona Science Center signed a letter of intent, finalizing the exhibit’s trip to Phoenix.
Reach the reporter at connor.radnovich@asu.edu
