Reviving the Paris Thylacines

Museums, Extinction, and Public Environmental Sentiments

Abstract

This article examines the display of the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) in Paris, focusing on the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Museum of Natural History) and its associated spaces. It will argue that museums are important spaces in which the public comes face-to-face with extinction and can grieve species loss. Building on the notion of museums as a repository for public grief, this article argues that a more complex repertoire of emotions is possible (and invited) in contemporary engagements with extinction. Through examining this complex emotional terrain, this article traces shifting political approaches to extinction and museum display in the Anthropocene.