Historical Geographies of Lost Worlds: Paleontological Discourses and Dinosaur Exhibitions in Museum Space

This thesis argued that museums and exhibits have acted as centers of paleontological discourse that historically provided a lens on society's relationship with nature. This discourse can be reconstructed by historical geographers in order to better understand how paleontological discourse evolved through time and space and to determine how this discourse is geographically represented in the space of the dinosaur exhibit. In order to analyze dinosaur exhibits within this geographic lens, my research collected museum guides, exhibit photographs, and field notes. Data was analyzed within a Foucauldian archaeological framework, in where paleontological discourse were examined to shed light on how systems of paleontological rules were presented in space and to analyze which systems of knowledge were chosen over others. Using discourse analysis to elucidate the historical changes of paleontological discourse, my research argues that dinosaur exhibits not only display fossils of extinct animals in geographic space, but also display the rules and power relationships within paleontological discursive practices along with the rules and values of Western society.