Abstract
Barone explores the relationship between young-Earth creationism and museums, focusing on creationist engagement with natural history museums. Arguing that young-Earth creationism is a social movement primarily focused on cultural reproduction, she examines the use of mobile apps and video-sharing technologies as methods for undermining secular scientific authority in museums. Creationist YouTube tours have become a popular method of subverting the authority of the secular museum for millions of visitors at home, while mobile apps work alongside other web-based written guides to facilitate the reinterpretation of museum displays. As mediators, these tools for young-Earth creationists become invisible tour guides, negotiating the way information reaches the visitor and, as a result, the way mainstream science is accepted or rejected.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
American Museum of Natural History. (2018). Explorer. Retrieved from https://www.amnh.org/apps/explorer.
Answers in Genesis. (2018). Denver Museum of Science and Nature. Retrieved from https://answersingenesis.org/creation-vacations/denver-museum-science-nature/.
B.C. Tours. (n.d.). B.C. Tours. Retrieved from http://www.bctours.org/.
Eve, R. A., & Harrold, F. B. (1991). The Creationist Movement in Modern America. Boston: Twayne Publishers.
Fox, M. [Megan Fox]. (2014, November 7). Megan Fox audits the Field Museum’s “Evolving Earth” exhibit [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32mxZxv3dYM#t=343.
Franklin, A. (2007). Cultural reproduction. In G. Ritzer (Ed.), Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (pp. 910–911). Hoboken: Blackwell Publishing.
Gerwitz, F. (2006, April/May). A museum guide for the creation-minded. Homeschooling Today. Retrieved from https://www.crosswalk.com/family/homeschool/a-museum-guide-for-the-creation-minded-1401562.html.
Gill, A. A. (2010). Roll over, Charles Darwin! Vanity Fair. Retrieved from http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/02/creation-museum-201002.
Goldberg, J. (2014). Were there dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark? The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/10/the-genesis-code/379341/.
Hill, J. P. (2014). National study of religion and human origins. BioLogos. Retrieved from https://biologos.org/uploads/projects/nsrho-report.pdf.
Hovind, E., & Johnson, D. [Creation Today Ministry]. (2012, May 17). Tour a natural history museum with Eric Hovind & Daniel Johnson [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40lR_v_w78U.
Institute for Museum and Library Sciences. (2018). Museum universe data file [Data file]. Retrieved from https://www.imls.gov/research-evaluation/data-collection/museum-universe-data-file.
International Association for Creation. (2018a). Our brands. Retrieved from http://associationforcreation.weebly.com/our-brands.html.
International Association for Creation. (2018b). Our mission. Retrieved from http://associationforcreation.weebly.com/mission-purpose–vision.html.
International Association for Creation. (2018c). The Creation Trail App—Zoo Edition (Version 41) [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from https://creationtrailzoo.weebly.com.
International Association for Creation. (2019). Who we are—The creation trail. Retrieved from https://thecreationtrail.weebly.com/who-we-are.html.
International Council on Museums. (n.d.). Museum definition. Retrieved from http://icom.museum/the-vision/museum-definition/.
Jenkins, H. (2009). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Kehoe, A. (1987). Scientific creationism: World view, not science. In F. B. Harrold & R. A. Eve (Eds.), Cult Archaeology and Creationism (pp. 11–20). Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
Kerby, C. [Creation Today Ministry] (2013, October 16). A creation museum in Washington D.C.! [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ronsqlrwtis.
Lisle, J. (2008). Evolution: The anti-science. Answers in Depth, 3. Retrieved from https://assets.answersingenesis.org/doc/articles/aid/v3/evolution-anti-science.pdf.
Locke, S. (1999). Constructing “the Beginning”: Discourses of Creation Science. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
MacDonald, S. (1998). Exhibitions of power and powers of exhibition. In S. MacDonald (Ed.), The Politics of Display: Museums, Science, Culture (pp. 1–24). London: Routledge.
Numbers, R. L. (2006). The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Ortner, S. B. (1984). Theory in anthropology since the sixties. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 26(1), 126–166.
Rozenwig, R. (2000). How Americans use and think about the past. In P. N. Stearns, P. Seixas, & S. Wineburg (Eds.), Knowing, Teaching, & Learning History: National and International Perspectives (pp. 262–283). New York: New York University Press.
Sayre, S., & Wetterlund, K. (2008). The social life of technology for museum visitors. Visual Arts Research, 34(2), 85–94.
Scott, E. C. (2000). The creation/evolution continuum. Retrieved from http://ncse.com/creationism/general/creationevolution-continuum.
Scott, E. C. (2007). Creation science lite: ‘Intelligent design’ as the new anti-evolutionism. In A. J. Petto & L. R. Godfrey (Eds.), Scientists Confront Creationism: Intelligent Design and Beyond (pp. 59–109). New York: W. W. Norton.
Scott, E. C. (2009). Evolution vs. Creationism. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Scott, E. C., & Branch, G. (2003). Evolution: What’s wrong with “teaching the controversy”. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 18(10), 499–502.
Sewell, W. H., Jr. (2005). The concept(s) of culture. In G. M. Spiegel (Ed.), Practicing History: New Directions in Historical Writing After the Linguistic Turn (pp. 35–61). New York: Routledge.
Sheehan, P. (2005, January 17). Onward the new Christian soldier. Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from https://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/01/16/1105810774805.html.
Smithson, J. (1826). Last will and testament. Retrieved from http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/stories/last-will-and-testament-october-23-1826.
Stein, R. (2012). Chiming in on museums and participatory culture. Curator, 55(2), 215–226.
Stogner, M. B. (2009). The media-enhanced museum experience: Debating the use of media technology in cultural exhibitions. Curator, 52(4), 385–397.
Tsai, H., & Sung, K. (2012). Mobile applications and museum visitation. Computer, 45(4), 95–98.
Yanni, C. (1999). Nature’s Museums: Victorian Science and the Architecture of Display. London: The Athlone Press.
YouTube. (2018). Press statistics. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/intl/en-GB/yt/about/press/.
Acknowledgements
This chapter is part of a larger study on young-Earth creationism and would not have been possible without the participation of more than two hundred individuals. To everyone who completed a survey, shared my contact information, brought me into a museum, spoke with me and shared their professional and personal thoughts—thank you. I would also like to thank Benjamin Campbell and Andrew Petto, both of whom helped shape my approach to understanding the relationship between creationist thought, evolution acceptance, and museums.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barone, L.M. (2019). Bringing Creation to a Museum Near You. In: Fewkes, J. (eds) Anthropological Perspectives on the Religious Uses of Mobile Apps. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26376-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26376-8_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-26375-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-26376-8
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)