From exhibiting minerals to narrating extraction
Reflections from Lisbon’s National Museum of Science and Natural History
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21687166 |
|---|---|
| Authors | N Dias (0000-0002-3689-8102, Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa), Mounir Sabeh Affaki (0000-0001-8487-2065, Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-23 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-07 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Heritage Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1352-7258 • E-ISSN: 1470-3610 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13527258.2026.2689927 |
| OpenAlex | W7167575585 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 25 |
This paper focuses on two mineral exhibitions currently held at the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) and aims to explore the cultural and social narratives underlying these displays, as well as the process through which minerals are discursively transformed into valuable resources and disconnected from histories of labour, colonialism and ecological degradation. Investigating mineral collections provides a lens for analysing the entanglement between mineral resources and the production of national and imperial imaginaries, and the intersection between heritage-making, nation and resources. This paper is based on site visits, technologies of display, textual discourse analysis and extensive conversations with MUHNAC staff. It also draws on consultations of archival material and theoretical frameworks from museum studies, critical heritage studies, and energy humanities. We contend that critically examining the role that mineral collections in museums have played in normalising notions of progress, modernity and nationalism and their association with resource extraction could encourage a reconsideration of how these heritage institutions could contribute to action for climate empowerment and to just green transition
Colonialism · Cultural heritage · Empowerment · Exhibition · Modernity · Narrative · Nationalism · Natural resource · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Mining and Resource Management · Museums and Cultural Heritage
The Nutmeg's Curse
“Changing up” the museum
Beyond “Natural” and “Cultural” Heritage
Climate Collections and Photosynthetic, Fossil-Fueled Atmospheres
Climate Change and the Museum
The Entwined Human and Environmental Costs of the Colonial Project
Museums and the construction of national identity
Nature’s Marvels”
Silence and symbolic expression
Resource geographies II
What do we talk about when we talk about extractivism
Bringing museal silence into focus
Darwin's Chalcopyrite
Geologia colonial
Reinterpreting the Mineral Collections in Rome's Museum of Civilizations
"Time Capsules" of Science
Introduction
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |