Day 2 - Musee de l'Homme

As we stepped into the metro station at Porte De Villette, we had no idea of the view we would be met with when we stepped out in the center. There the Eiffel Tower sat, surrounded by a wedding party, dozens of men selling miniature key rings and hundreds of tourists. Regardless of whether it was their first or fifth time in Paris, it was difficult to get anybody away from the view and into Musee de l'Homme next door. 

Outside, we split into groups and entered the museum to see two exhibitions that contained art connected to the themes of human progression and discrimination. 

The first exhibition was experimenting with the way that human bodies are shaped by different cultures and individuals over time. Looking at the way the human body shares anatomical similarities with animals, the art presented the human body in many forms and lights and used the different shapes found in the physical parts of humans to create various structures. This included a wall made up entirely of tongues in a variety of shapes and sizes, that allowed you to pull on the tongue and hear a language and information on a particular part of the world. Another piece that was incredibly striking was a giant pile of 'Bobo-Fing' from Burkino Faso, 'Pende' from Central Africa, 'Wobe' from the Ivory Coast and 'Fang' from Gabon, that was dumped "as if it had been thrown from a container to evoke the tragedy of the refugees that didn't survive the journey across the Mediterranean".

After this we went to see the second exhibition which looked at discrimination across the world and the way that as human beings we categorise things instantly, from other humans to objects, in order to make sense of the world around us. It then explained how these instantaneous labels we ascribe to things have damaging consequences as we are judging things often on very simplistic, obvious qualities resulting in people being defined as their most overt trait; for example, looking at a woman in a hijab, seeing her as a Muslim and then not delving any deeper into her identity or personality. 

This way of thinking also allows us to make judgements about somebody's character based on the label we have ascribed them. To show this, the exhibition involved three big screens, which showed people in various social settings (on a bus, in a queue, at work) and then the screen switched to the same image but with labels on it ranging from gender, class, religion and race. 

The exhibition also looked at historical case studies of discrimination around the world including the Holocaust, segregation in America and South Africa. Whilst these parts were informative and interesting, it was sad to realise that Palestine was not mentioned at all. It left many of the Palestinians feeling like, no matter what, their plight is always overlooked and other wars, apartheid and genocides come first.