Abstract
Housed in a modern facility, the Museo del Meterito is situated in downtown Progreso in the Yucatan Peninsula. Offering up fast facts about the dinosaur population, the types of geological formations within the region, and ultimately a narrative of the impactful meteoric event, the museum features lush interiors, four-walled installations, and a bevy of animatronic dinosaurs to explore. Juxtaposed against the modern settings of the Museo del Meterito the nearby theme park and quasi museum of Sendero Juráisco features the actual meteor path along with animatronic dinosaurs in more “natural habitats,” with brontosauruses and triceratopses partially submerged in sea water. The striking contrasts between these two monuments to extinction both recall Blair’s contention that “the most obvious demands rhetoric makes on the body are the very physical ones required for one to pay attention.” Blair’s assertion enlivens the two presentations of a Jurassic past. For the Museo del Meterito, subtitles are everywhere from dinosaur displays to translations of looping videos, always featuring Mayan, Spanish, and English which introduce the viewer to the museum. Both complex, these two multisensory museums inadvertently complement each other, offering up their own narrative about what transpired millions of years ago. This paper shows how the native language of the Maya and the topography of their geographical center highlight overt issues of discrimination, hegemony, and cultural insensitivity that Yucatecan indigenous people have faced. Unlike the dinosaurs, the Maya are alive and well, and these exhibits orient the viewer to see resiliency of the local indigenous population.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2026 Special Focus—The Future of Museum Narratives
KEYWORDS
Indigenous Accommodations, Technical Communication, Visual Rhetoric, Ethics
