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Displaying Exotic Otherness: Does the Space Matter?
At the turn of the 20th century, exotic shows as a form of displaying othernessgained wide popularity among various kinds of mass entertainment in Europeand the United States. Promoted professionally, the shows attracted public interest,combining the acquisition of knowledge with leisure. The freaks and people of non-European descent exhibited in different public spaces – zoos, parks, circus– not only demonstrated ‘nature’s errors’ and the diversity of human beings,but also the development of the human body and society within the framework ofracial and evolutionary theories. The socio-economic and cultural context of eachhost country added that country’s own meaning to the messages of the shows.Exotic shows staged in the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire inhabited byLatvians created a situation in which entertainment invented by modern colonialismtook place in a territory directly affected by colonialism. Providing an insightinto these shows, emphasizing exotic otherness mainly in Riga, the article seeksanswers to the questions of who the audience was for these shows, and what kindof power relations, if any, between “living specimens” and spectators, and amongspectators, one can deduce from the performance venue.
Displaying Exotic Otherness: Does the Space Matter?
At the turn of the 20th century, exotic shows as a form of displaying othernessgained wide popularity among various kinds of mass entertainment in Europeand the United States. Promoted professionally, the shows attracted public interest,combining the acquisition of knowledge with leisure. The freaks and people of non-European descent exhibited in different public spaces – zoos, parks, circus– not only demonstrated ‘nature’s errors’ and the diversity of human beings,but also the development of the human body and society within the framework ofracial and evolutionary theories. The socio-economic and cultural context of eachhost country added that country’s own meaning to the messages of the shows.Exotic shows staged in the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire inhabited byLatvians created a situation in which entertainment invented by modern colonialismtook place in a territory directly affected by colonialism. Providing an insightinto these shows, emphasizing exotic otherness mainly in Riga, the article seeksanswers to the questions of who the audience was for these shows, and what kindof power relations, if any, between “living specimens” and spectators, and amongspectators, one can deduce from the performance venue.
Displaying Exotic Otherness: Does the Space Matter?
Boldāne-Zeļenkova, Ilze (author)
2023-07-02
Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics; Vol. 16 No. 2 (2022): Hybrid Beliefs and Identities; 219–238 ; 2228-0987 ; 1736-6518
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
710
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