When Women Birthed Mooncalves and Moles

The Display of Fetal Remains and the Invisibility of Females in Museums

Author(s)

  • Emily Porth Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52537/humanimalia.10030

Abstract

The Hunterian Museum, part of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, England, is unique in that its displays are focused on the anatomical collections of 18th century surgeon John Hunter, and today the museum is designed to exhibit Hunter’s collections in the way he would have at that time. As such, humans and animals are unusually displayed in the same galleries, and this includes a large number of wet-preserved human and animal fetal bodies. Significant work has been done within feminist studies of science to examine the politics around the icon and visibility of the human fetus, and on how the fetus has become the primary actor in the origin stories of contemporary Western society. However, the critical investigation of animal fetal bodies and their role in this origin story appears absent altogether, and little work has been carried out on how foetal display in museums essentially renders females of all species invisible.

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Author Biography

  • Emily Porth

    Emily F. Porth is a PhD Candidate and sessional lecturer in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto, Canada. She is a feminist anthropologist and animal advocate whose interdisciplinary research focuses on how the visual narratives in museum displays can be reimagined to encourage relationships of respect between humans, and between humans and other species. She is currently completing her dissertation, titled How to See Differently: Social Inclusivity and the Display of Bodies in British Museums.

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Published

2012-09-14

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Porth, Emily. 2012. “When Women Birthed Mooncalves and Moles: The Display of Fetal Remains and the Invisibility of Females in Museums”. Humanimalia 4 (1): 1-44. https://doi.org/10.52537/humanimalia.10030.