This image comes from Hagenbeck show called "Les Indes" about indigenous people from India.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Human Zoos
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.
The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE"
Relevent Stops On The Information Highway
- Custom Motorcycle Accessories by Ian
- Bob Cline's Sawdust and Spangles
- Buckles Blog
- Christophe Roullin Circus News
- Gary Robinsons Circus Blog
- Jamie Clubbs Blog
- Marco Kristens Circus Williams
- Ryan Easley's ShowMe Elephants
- Showbiz Daves Blog
- The Bartlett Society
- Thomas Bohners Cage Act History
- World of Dancing Horses
Manure Pile/Post Archive
Consultants
Wade G Burck
Adam R Burck
Eric G Burck
Adam R Burck
Eric G Burck
Posts
1 comment:
It's a fine line beween a cultural exhibit (Russian dance troupes for instance) and exploitation. For instance, were the Indians there against their will? Were they being paid for their performances? Was it a grand adventure for poverty stricken youth from Indian slums, or were they abused once they arrived in Europe. Now, some of the others like the African guy living in the cage is clearly exploitive, but then again, I think of some of the 'Wild Woman, Captured Alive' shows on carnivals in the 70's who spent 12 hours a day in a pit show. I remember seeing one which despite the banners showing scantily clad 'wild women' wrestling jungle serpents, turned out to be one woman with downs syndrome sitting in a pit stroking an iguana while various small snakes slithered around her chair.
Then, like the sideshow freaks who were denied their living when their occupation became politically incorrect. Yet in the context of a TV reality show it seems perfectly ok to benefit from midgets, fat people and those with deformities as long as it's put in the context of "look those little people go to the grocery store just like us".
How about the Native Americans appearing in Wild West shows and living in teepee 'villages' open for public viewing, or indeed the long neck women and other foreign oddities who appeared in US sideshows long after the period of Hagenbeck's Human Zoos.
So, I guess, putting aside the odd placement in a zoo setting, is it less appropriate to look at an armless guy who can play musical instruments with his feet than a Brazillian Indian?
The bottom line is whether they were willingly employed for a duration, paid for their services and then allowed to return home, or were they actually kidnapped slave-fashion and forced to live in confinement as an exhibit.
I'm wondering how long the Chilean natives were in Europe to have died there. Surely the period of human zoos didn't last that long.
Here's an article about something which could be a similar situation, yet are these women better or worse off than the other refugees who cannot amke a living from their unusual looks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7215182.stm
Post a Comment