Colgate University’s Lifelong Learning Program (LLP) hosted Associate Professor of Anthropology Elana Shever for her presentation “What Are the Dinosaurs Doing There? Dinosaur Paleontology from Disney World to Nature Parks” on Thursday, Feb. 26. Shever provided an examination of the role of dinosaurs and paleontology in American public culture.
The talk centered on Shever’s book, “Making Our Beasts: Paleontology in the United States,” which explores how paleontology functions as a science and a prominent cultural practice as well as how its two functions interact with one another.
At the start of her talk, Shever defined “edutainment” as a merging of education and entertainment to make science fun and experiential. Examples of edutainment are Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida and Dinosaur Ridge, a part of the Morrison Fossil Area National Natural Landmark in Colorado.
Reading from her book, Shever vividly described Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which featured dinosaurs to provide representation for the entire North American continent. In contrast to its exotic living animal representations for Asia and Africa, the prehistoric creatures of DinoLand U.S.A. stood out of place in an accredited zoo said to be advancing environmental conservation and providing science education.
DinoLand reflected Disney’s sanitized edutainment and middle-class appeals, except for in its “Dinosaur” ride, which immersed visitors in a simulated danger, entrenched in themes of mastery, conquest and heroism.
Shever said the “Dinosaur” ride presented the Wild West as an abundant wilderness, transforming spectacle and thrill into an educational experience. Visitors learned how people can save endangered species through immersion and captivity. She argued the ride used paleontology to tell a story of colonial conquest. It displayed paleontology in an updated form of a classic American Western adventure, in which dinosaurs replaced Native Americans as the threatening villains.
Turning to Dinosaur Ridge, Shever described a small public park run by a nonprofit organization. A tour guide at Dinosaur Ridge told the story of the Rooney family, local settlers in the 1800s, described as friendly with the “Indians.” Shever said the guide briefly mentioned the Indigenous Ute people before focusing on Arthur Lakes’ accidental discovery of Stegosaurus fossils and Dinosaur Ridge’s role in the development of paleontology.
Shever cited research by historian Ned Blackhawk that challenges the guide’s account. She said that in the 1850s, white settlers flooded the area during the Colorado Gold Rush, aided by the government’s violation of land treaties and tolerance of illegal settlement. As part of her research, Shever uncovered how the Rooney family participated in resource extraction and the undermining of land claims for the sake of mineral, ranching and corporate interests. Shever said Alexander Rooney himself later took part in the Sand Creek Massacre on Nov. 29, 1864, when U.S. volunteer soldiers killed an estimated 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people who believed they were under the protection of the U.S. Army.
Shever said the tour guide never mentioned Lakes’ involvement in the U.S. government efforts to map and extract natural resources. She added that the Rooneys’ mining of traditional Ute land is what made Lakes’ fossil collecting possible.
“150 years later, [the tour guide] told a romanticized version of this history to give her tour what she called a little bit of local color,” Shever said.
Disney and Dinosaur Ridge depicted an unpeopled wilderness, presenting fossils as trophies of conquest and using scientific discoveries to justify land claims. Both sites minimized Indigenous presence and downplayed paleontology’s role in colonial expansion, portraying that expansion as inevitable and necessary.
Audience member Joan Ford appreciated Shever’s acknowledgement of Indigenous history and recognizing that the land belonged first to the Ute people before the white settlers arrived.
The cover of Shever’s book featured a sculpture by artist Mark Dion, in which a dinosaur stands atop an open cabinet. A dirty mop bucket sits inside, partially hidden behind a half-open door.
“One might say, [colonization, dispossession and massacre] are hidden in the broom closet, beneath the charismatic prehistoric megafauna on the pedestal. Or maybe they are part of that pedestal that holds up the charismatic dinosaurs,” Shever said, interpreting the piece.
Shever emphasized the importance of decentering humans and moving away from exoticizing the past. She expressed her hopes to see a future that recognizes Indigenous understanding and the omitted labor of those who are essential to paleontology, pushing against scientific colonialism in edutainment.
Joyce Nevison, a Hamilton resident and retired teacher, described her innate curiosity and appreciation for the Lifelong Learning Program.
“Education is just the key, the door of opportunity for people of all ages,” Nevison said.
Building off Nevison’s statement, Hamilton resident Lydia Slater commented on the rather homogeneous demographic of the attendees.
“I hope that students would also come, so everyone here isn’t 76,” Slater said.
The program is just one example of this recontextualizing of education, pushing its members to consistently engage with an ongoing pursuit of knowledge.
