Intertextual Narrativity and the Translation of Knowledge in the Science Museum

This chapter examines how the issue of extinction is translated in the science museum context. Translation here is understood in the broadest sense as an act of cultural representation and knowledge transmission that may involve a variety of different transformations. In particular, the chapter examines how the various “translational gestures” used in the construction of a given exhibition shape particular understandings of extinction. In considering this question, the chapter takes a narrative approach and responds to Baker’s call for an expanded application of narrative theory to different translational contexts. Focusing on the specific case of an extinction exhibition in the Hong Kong Science Museum, it draws on the narratological idea of “intertextual narrativity” to examine how a particular exhibition narrative is constructed of various intertextually interlocking narrative units. This narrative may be read as a re-narration of similar narratives presented in other exhibitions within the same museum, forming an intertextual and narrative aggregate that in turn constitutes a broader re-narration of existing conceptual and public narratives. The chapter concludes with a reflection on what the case study suggests regarding narrative and epistemic authority in the Hong Kong Science Museum space.