Africans on stage : studies in ethnological show business

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Bibliographic Information

Africans on stage : studies in ethnological show business

edited by Bernth Lindfors

Indiana University Press , D. Philip, 1999

  • : pbk : us
  • : pbk : sa

Available at  / 8 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

ISBN 9780253334688

Description

"...engaging, richly illustrated, and well-reserached .... Part anthology, cultural studies, history, journalism and political science, it... manages to consistently engage the reader..." - African Studies Review "Lindfors's book shows how the 'edutainment' of the 19th century perpetuated an ignorance of Africa that makes it easy for whites to stay racist and difficult for blacks to gain an accurate and dignified understanding of their heritage. . . . an unusually strong, readable collection." -Boston Book Review Ethnological show business-that is, the displaying of foreign peoples for commercial and/or educational purposes-has a very long history. In the 19th and 20th centuries some of the most interesting individuals and groups exhibited in Europe and America came from Africa, or were said to come from Africa. African showpeople (real as well as counterfeit), managers and impresarios, and the audiences who came to gape are the featured attractions here-how they individually and in concert helped to shape Western perceptions of Africans.

Table of Contents

Introduction Zoe Strother, Display of the Body Hottentot Bernth Lindfors, Charles Dickens and the Zulus Shane Peacock, Africa Meets the Great Farini Veit Erlmann, 'Spectatorial Lust': The African Choir in England, 1891-1893 Robert W. Rydell, 'Darkest Africa': African Shows at America's World's Fairs, 1893-1940 Jeffrey Green, A Strange Revelation in Humankind: Six Congo Pygmies in Britain, 1905-1907 Harvey Blume, Ota Benga and the Barnum Perplex Neil Parsons, 'Clicko,' Franz Taaibosch, South African Bushman Entertainer in England, France, Cuba, and the United States, 1908-1940
Volume

: pbk : sa ISBN 9780864863973

Description

Ethnological show business has a long history in Europe and North America. "Africans on Stage" shows how those who participated in these ethnological shows helped to shape European and American perceptions of Africans.

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