From the Diorama to the Return of the Cabinets: Discursive Patterns in Natural History Museums Today

Abstract

This is a general appraisal of the book Biodiversidade Musealizada: formas que comunicam, by Mariana Galera Soler, the result of her doctoral thesis in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Évora. The book proposes and analyzes theoretical models on museographic patterns, based on zoological collections - the author's area of interest and work - and the way in which biodiversity is translated into the scientific discourse of the natural history museums covered. The work constitutes a detailed account of the collection of the National Museum, located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in the period 2014-2018, prior to the fire that compromised a large part of its collections.