Biology and culture at the reinvented Musée de l’Homme

After being closed for renovations for six years, the ‘reinvented’ Musée de l’Homme reopened in October 2015 with a completely new layout and narrative. Its principal account is that, while biological evolution guided human development, culture must be taken into account. With this explanation it makes the new biocultural turn. Throughout, the permanent exhibitions insist that members of humanity, as we know it, are one, and at the same time we are marked by differences. Our article reviews both how successfully the museum presents its story and what is left out. Although the authors agree that the museum is well placed to serve as an institutional form of Foucault’s specialised intellectual on the important questions it addresses, we find weaknesses and omissions in the treatment of gender, ‘race’, ethnic identities, and economic and political power