Naming Nature — Natural History and Colonial Legacy

This exhibition at the Museum of Natural History of Neuchâtel examines the relationship between natural history, scientific classification, and colonial legacy. It investigates how the naming and categorization of natural specimens reflected and reinforced colonial hierarchies and power dynamics. The show considers the historical context in which natural history museums developed as institutions, and how their collections and naming systems were shaped by imperial expansion and the appropriation of knowledge from colonized regions.