2026 Theses Doctoral

Interpreting Paraguay's Museo de Ciencias (MuCi) Through Drawing and Metaphor: A Multimodal Ethnographic Case Study

Murray, Clare

Paraguay’s Museo de Ciencias (MuCi) is an unprecedented project, set to bring some of the most advanced technology and contemporary museum practice together in a landmark interactive museum of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics, from its terreno in the heart of one of the most vulnerable areas of the country.

Grounded in their recent history living through the longest dictatorship in South America with continued pervasive complications, Paraguayans are not accustomed to museum-going. Over the past 4 years, MuCi has begun aiming to shift the conversation around what a museum stands for by building up a team of new museum professionals, inviting community members to experience novel exhibitions and opportunities to connect, considering children a critical audience group, and going directly to children and communities who would not otherwise approach their museum.

This study described what it means to build an interactive science museum in Paraguay and interpreted the development of MuCi using metaphors and drawings as sensemaking constructs. A critical examination of MuCi’s evolution, operations, and context is paired with interview data from staff, funders, children, schoolteachers, and community members. Ultimately, through five layered metaphors and conceptual drawings, this study demonstrated that building a culture of museum-going in a context without such traditions is, first and foremost, about fitting into the larger social, political, economic, and cultural landscape.

Findings have implications for MuCi regarding ongoing policy development as well as for groups in similar situations looking to build museums. Recommendations and conclusions offer MuCi, other museum groups, and museum researchers methodological tools and questions to consider.