Analysis - Displays of Power: Controversy in the American Museum from the Enola Gay to Sensation

Displays of Power: Controversy in the American Museum from the Enola Gay to Sensation detailed the power struggles, culture wars, and conflicts that often accompanied these controversial exhibits and discussed the seemingly constant issue of who has symbolic ownership of a particular history or identity and, more importantly, who has symbolic ownership of the exhibit. Dubin focused on the role the museum played in establishing portrayals of cultures, ethnic groups, and major events in history, and the museum's shift from temple to forum (by unquestioned authority to questionable force). He examined not only the content of the exhibits, but the social and political atmosphere which surrounded the timing of the controversial exhibits, stating that the atmospheres directly related to the controversy.

Dubin examined some of the 90s most controversial exhibits, which often portrayed objects or events central to the American identity, including those found in art and history museums, as well as the Library of Congress. I felt a majority dealt with historical issues, with discussion focusing on both the history of different ethnic groups, historical events and figures, as well as art exhibits with a shock factor. Dubin discussed the wide array of battles that blemished these exhibits. There seemed to exist a constant presence of displeasure within the communities (ex: Irish-Americans towards Gaelic exhibit, intellectual community towards Freud exhibit, veterans towards Enola Gay exhibit) towards the curators or exhibit creators, or the intellectual authorities of the exhibits. He also mentioned the conflicts that arose over who funded the exhibit and the control that had over the exhibit objects, as well as the conflicts whose fire was agitated by the media and politics.

I can appreciate what Dubin is attempting to do by describing the social and political atmosphere of the era that surrounded the creation of particular exhibits. However, I found myself drifting away during the introductory portions of practically every chapter. For a book meant to describe the controversies in the American museum he spent a good portion of time discussing the environment surrounding the museum, as opposed to discussing the environment within the museum.

Even once Dubin reached the portion discussing the controversy surrounding the exhibits I still felt it lacked. Dubin presented a well-rounded discussion of the varying views and opinions, but by including so many different views you end up with a detailed account of the struggles surrounding the exhibits, and a fairly confined discussion of the conflict within the exhibits. It is clear the author is simply attempting to portray the consequences of these exhibits and their social environments; however a greater discussion on the actual exhibit itself and a more specific view or clear image of Dubin’s personal opinion on the exhibits (considering he probably had a pretty substantial understanding of its conflicts after researching and interviewing all those contributors and creators!), would have been helpful and may have even added another dimension to his findings.