Exhibiting "Lucy": Bones of contention at the Houston Museum of Natural Science

Thursday, September 6, 2007, at 7:00 p.m.McMurtry Auditorium, Duncan Hall, Rice University

Co-Sponsor: Department of Anthropology

After years of storage in a vault in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the famous fossilized bones of the 3.2 million-year old hominid known as Lucy traveled to Houston in early August. They will be on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science from August 31 until April 2008, as part of an exhibition on Ethiopia's history. The transport of this rare and important fossil has raised considerable controversy. It has been denounced by the Smithsonian, which says it will not accept the exhibition that was originally due to travel to eleven U.S. museums. Fossil-hunter Richard Leakey decried the exhibition of the fossil as "a form of prostitution... (and) gross exploitation of the ancestors of humanity" in a recent interview to The Associated Press. This discussion brings together several panelists with different interests in and approaches to the Ethiopia exhibit, with the aim exploring more fully the underlying issues from a diversity of viewpoints.

Panelists:
Jeff Fleisher, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Rice University
John Kappelman, Professor of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin
Gezahgen Kebede, Honorary Consul General of Ethiopia, President, Ethio-American Trade & Investment
Rebecca Storey, Professor of Anthropology, University of Houston
Dirk van Tuerenhout, Curator of Anthropology, Houston Museum of Natural Science

Moderator:
Susan Keech McIntosh, Director, Scientia Institute, Professor of Anthropology, Rice University

Video archive available here.