- Paperback: 302 pages
- Publisher: Indiana University Press (April 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0253212456
- ISBN-13: 978-0253212450
- Product Dimensions: 25.4 x 17.9 x 1.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 726 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,173,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
Ethnological show business that is, the displaying of foreign peoples for commercial and/or educational purposes has a very long history in Europe, and it became increasingly common after advances in navigational technology put Europeans in touch with human communities all over the globe. As the world shrank, traffic in all kinds of exotic goods grew, and living specimens from remote corners of the earth were in great demand. Indeed, the stranger the creature, the stronger the draw. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries some of the most interesting individuals and groups exhibited in Europe and America came from Africa, or were said to come from Africa.What did the average spectator think of such representatives from the Dark Continent? If the display was a dramatic one that is, if the Africans sang, danced or acted out events what opinions did observers form of them as performers and as human beings? How was the spectacle staged, and who organized and managed the show? How authentic were these performances? Where did the performers actually come from? What notions about Africa and Africans were these exhibitions meant to convey?African show people, real as well as counterfeit, are featured as the main attractions in this book, but standing just behind them are a supporting case of managers and impresarios whose efforts to capitalize on spectacular displays of physical and cultural differences share some of the spotlight. The audiences that turned out to see such shows, expecting them to corroborate what they had heard or read about remarkable African abnormalities and idiosyncrasies, are also glimpsed in illuminating sidelights. "Africans on Stage" is a book about how these three groups players, promoters and spectators individually and in concert helped to shape European and American perceptions of Africans.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb combination of thought-provoking essays.,
By
This review is from: Africans on Stage: Studies in Ethnological Show Business (Paperback)
Berth Lindfors has done an impressive job, cover to cover. There is a sucker born every minute, and unfortunately a great number of individuals are unwillingly caught up in the trade that allows showpeople to sell their tickets. This book shows how a variety of human "specimens" have been treated like animals to sell world's fairs, circuses, etc. The authors fall short of mentioning that animals have been treated like animals too -- for example, the Bronx Zoo's exhibition of a San tribesmember in a cage with an orang-utan was demeaning for both the former and the latter. But the book shows us in a striking way the problematic nature of the human obsession with cages and the spectacle. Excellent study of the dynamic of racism, sexism, imperialist greed, and the roots of prejudice.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb combination of thought-provoking essays.,
By Lee Hall - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Africans on Stage: Studies in Ethnological Show Business (Paperback)
Berth Lindfors has done an impressive job, cover to cover. There is a sucker born every minute, and unfortunately a great number of individuals are unwillingly caught up in the trade that allows showpeople to sell their tickets. This book shows how a variety of human "specimens" have been treated like animals to sell world's fairs, circuses, etc. The authors fall short of mentioning that animals have been treated like animals too -- for example, the Bronx Zoo's exhibition of a San tribesmember in a cage with an orang-utan was demeaning for both the former and the latter. But the book shows us in a striking way the problematic nature of the human obsession with cages and the spectacle. Excellent study of the dynamic of racism, sexism, imperialist greed, and the roots of prejudice. |
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