Paper short abstract:

Based on the works of German anthropologist Robert Lehmann-Nitsche on exhibited Argentinean indigenous groups, this paper analyzes the use of fairs and exhibitions as privileged space for "field work" for the scholars of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Argentina.

Paper long abstract:

Between 1898 and 1904, the German anthropologist Robert Lehmann-Nitsche (1872-1938) carried out a series of anthropometric, linguistic, photographic and musicological investigations on representatives of the Selk'nam, Takshik and Tehuelche groups which had been exhibited in local and international commercial enterprises. Founded on the analysis of these investigations, this paper examines the intrinsic links between companies based on the display of "exotic" people and anthropological practices, the category of "exotic" as a classificatory limit in the construction of cultural and ethnic otherness, the problems linked to the "identity" of the exhibited individuals and the use of urban spaces as scenarios where scholars met, developed and investigated their study object.

Paper short abstract:

This paper puts forth a historiography of Argentine national history that proposes that Buenos Aires' International Centennial Exposition (1910) laid the foundational moment not only of the nationalist state and a capitalist economy but of the systematic use of genocide as a political tool.

Paper long abstract:

Using archival photographs this paper discusses the language and policies of historical revisionism and censorship in relation to the history of indigenous people and their struggles through a focus on various critical events in Argentine history (notably the Exposición Internacional del Centenario). The paper traces and conflates these important historical junctures to dissect the ideological and philosophical roots that rationally justified the use of state violence. By historicizing current problems that revive past yet poignant events the paper discusses the intersection of race, nationhood, and collective memory to give a critical re-questioning of the dominant imaginary of Argentina as homogeneously white (allegedly the result of European immigration and the extinction of most of the country's indigenous people). As such, it echoes the claim of human rights organisations that argue part of the call for a commitment to a truthful account of history is that the history of native people must be known and acknowledged by the state.

Paper short abstract:

Taking A Traveler in Europe by the Ottoman writer Ahmed Midhat (1844 - 1912), a non-canonical European travel text on Europe and the Parisian Exposition Universelle, 1889, I particularly focus on his remarks about Muslim women and gender in the case of la rue du Caire.

Paper long abstract:

Ahmed Midhat, a bureaucrat, novelist, journalist, Orientalist, and a cosmopolitan cultural broker of the 19th-century Ottoman-Istanbul, speaks to a transition period in which modernization was discussed to "save" the declining empire. In A Traveler in Europe (1890), a non-canonical European travel text, he presents his remarks about morality, Muslim women, and gender at the Parisian Exposition Universelle. While he is fascinated by discourses of development, modernity, and Paris as "civilized" city-space; he is not free of greater quandaries about the morality of the "European" culture, revealing a position on Europe and Europeanization with an interesting twist.

Liberally depicting urban Cairene architectural styles on the 150m2 area behind Palais de l'Industrie, Delort de Gléon claimed for the exactitude of la rue du Caire and argued for its "authenticity." As an Orientalist, Ahmed Midhat was attentive to la rue du Caire and described the spectacle beset with shops and musicians, male and female dancers, artisans, and donkey drivers. Yet, he criticized its presentation and argued that not the magnificent display of items, objects, and architecture, but the female dancers lured visitors to the Street. It is true that la rue du Caire is a "contact zone," in Mary Louise Pratt's terms, It is a transcultural site, but one that reinforces prejudices about Europe and the Orient on Ahmed Midhat, rather than reconciling them. In the end, Ahmed Midhat produces stereotypes both about the Orient and about the West; and about women, about morals, and, certainly, about himself.

Paper short abstract:

By looking to a set of displays in world fairs and museum exhibitions, this paper draws a panoramic view of how Spain and the Spanish people were perceived by native and foreign writers and artists at the turn of the century; and the intellectual engagements that took place between them.

Paper long abstract:

Head of an Empire with vast colonial possessions, Spain entered a period of national decadence when her last colonies were lost in 1898; which was mirrored in passionate debates about the fate of country and people, intellectual and moral introspection, and collective soul searching. Yet, paradoxically, all this coexisted with an outburst of creativity in literature and the arts.

By looking at the panoply of images of Spain and the Spanish people projected in some museum exhibitions, as the outcome of scientific and ethnographic expeditions carried out at this time. The inward and outward visions of peoples and cultures as shown in world-international fairs held in Spain (Barcelona 1888 and 1929; Seville 1929 and 1992) and elsewhere in Europe (Paris 1855, 1900 and 1937). Visions of country and people projected in travel literature (written by foreigners or 'natives'), via the plastic arts (for example, the commission to Joaquin Sorolla of a series of paintings Vision of Spain by The Hispanic Society of America; which was followed by the equally ambitious commission, to Ruth Matilda Anderson and other young female photographers, to build a systematic photographic archive of people and customs across the different regions of Spain). I intend to draw a panoramic view of how the country and its diverse regions and peoples were perceived by foreigners and natives alike. Not to merely juxtapose these contrasting visions, but precisely to examine the reciprocal influences, dialogues and engagements that take place between 'native' and 'foreign' scholars, artists and writers.

Paper short abstract:

The ideas of Slavic reciprocity and unity of the peoples of imperial Russia were clearly voiced at the First Ethnographic Exhibition in Moscow. This was due to the strengthening of national movements in foreign Slavic countries, the desire to strengthen the power of Russia and its science

Paper long abstract:

Russian ethnography and Western anthropology differ not only in time of genesis, but also in motivation and practical orientation. Russian ethnology was born as empirical and practical knowledge, based on self-knowledge and the strengthening of the empire. The focus of its attention there was on either an individual people or an imperial gallery of peoples. Western anthropology synthesized the general course of human evolution from fragments of different cultures. The works of Western evolutionists did not feature peoples, but the stages of progress of the cultures of the peoples of the world. This difference was clearly manifested at the First Ethnographic Exhibition in Moscow.

The main scientific and educational goal of this ethnographic exhibition was to demonstrate the huge diversity of the peoples of the Russian Empire and its neighboring Slavic countries, stimulating interest in studying their spiritual and material culture.

One of the leading trends of national movements in foreign Slavic countries in the XIX century were ideas of Slavic unity, which was associated with new outbursts of resistance to Germanization and the Magyarization of foreign Slavs. These ideas, being the result of the unity of the languages and cultures of the Slavic peoples, were interpreted as rapprochement in the field of science, education, common cultural heritage. And the Russian Empire, as the only Slavic independent state at that time, according to the participants of the event, was a support for all Slavic countries. The exhibition opened a new stage in the development of ethnology in Russia.

Paper short abstract:

This paper traces the trajectory of cultural display, from early public exhibitions of humans in world fairs and museums to the cinematic representations of world cultures, popular travelogues and expedition films of the 20th century and their enduring influence on the contemporary tourism industry.

Paper long abstract:

This paper traces the trajectory of cultural display, from the public exhibitions of humans in world fairs and museum exhibits, facilitated by a nascent anthropology discipline, to the early cinematic representation of world cultures at the turn of the 19th century or the popular travelogue expedition formats of the 20th century. Early live exhibits and travelogues provided many people with their first glimpses of international cultures and often times still do through the importance of contemporary touristic performance and popular online travel photos and streamed content from the 21st century.

This enduring history of cultural display fuels one of the top economic industries of the contemporary world: tourism. The paper will frame the discussion by exploring the relationship between tourism and cultural exhibition in the context of colonialization, domination, and globalization.

Paper short abstract:

This proposal aims at reflecting on the presence of women in photographs and other representations, such as drawings, posters, postcards, exhibition catalogues, newspapers and magazines, which were disseminated in the context of the Portuguese colonial expositions and similar spaces.

Paper long abstract:

This proposal aims at reflecting on the presence of women in photographs and other representations, such as drawings, posters, postcards, exhibition catalogues, newspapers and magazines, which were disseminated in the context of the Portuguese colonial expositions, and in exhibition spaces conceived by the Portuguese where the colonial component was included. Generally speaking, the exhibitions sought to put forward the progress achieved, taking into account land , rail and sea transports, but also roads, communications, trade, industry, arts, architecture, culture, and the most recent advancements in science and medicine. The exhibitions were also places where the logic of colonial models was staged, showing a clear relationship between colonial domination and genre representation. The research includes several materials produced throughout the 1930s (a fertile period regarding the Portuguese participation in this kind of events) intended to publicize these exhibitions or serve as its complement. These materials may include art works or merely propagandistic works, or works that combine both components. I will seek to analyse the contexts in which women appear and the way they are represented — as active beings (performing tasks), as contemplative beings (as in natural landscapes) or still as objects of sexual desire, revealing the context of power (legislative, administrative, male and colonial) in which the images and the representations were produced.

Paper short abstract:

This paper will analyze the press discourses about the Balinese performances as an entertainment for the public, as well as a device used to display an "effect of authenticity" to the Paris Colonial Exhibition of 1931.

Paper long abstract:

'Even at the Colonial Exhibition, in this Balinese theater, we may be in the extremes of the Asian sensibility and at the borders of a primitive and savant beauty': this is a short extract of a Florent Fels' article, where he describes the performance of the Balinese group at Paris' Colonial Exhibitionof 1931, published at 'Vu : journal de la semaine', the 08 July 1931. However, it was a Fels friend, Antonin Artaud, who wrote the most known text about them: 'On the Balinese Theater'. Antonin Artaud's narrative was, in a certain way, very similar to the press one. Before Artaud's arrival, several positive reviews about the Balinese performances appeared in the press. Furthermore, the analyses about the Balinese performances became more complex in the course of the months, as the Balinese group became the great artistic sensation of the Exhibition. Media coverage was even intensified after the fire which destroyed the Dutch Pavilion, on the dawn of June 28th. This paper will analyze the press discourses about the Balinese performances as an entertainment for the public, as well as a device used to display an "effect of authenticity" to the Exhibition itself.

Paper short abstract:

This paper retraces the journey of a group of Botocudos, presented in National Museum of Rio de Janeiro in 1882 and later in England and the U.S.A., aiming to analyze the transformation of narratives and representations between the Museum's official exhibition and its London and American versions

Paper long abstract:

In 1883 five Brazilian Botocudos Indians were exhibited at Piccadilly Hall, London's popular theater. This exhibition tried to replicate in Europe the success achieved by the display of seven Botocudos promoted the year before by the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, within the framework of the Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition. This paper presents the circumstances under which the exhibitions took place in England, promoted by two Brazilian businessmen. The Botocudos were measured and studied by scientists from the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and performed daily on a tour through the British cities of London, Sheffield and Manchester until they were sold to famous circus and freak show entrepreneur P. T. Barnum, composing the American tour of the "Ethnological Congress" of Circus Bailey and Barnum. The research emphasizes the ambivalent trajectory between science and spectacle in these three different versions and formats of exhibitions. This paper was developed as part of recently defended doctoral research. Employing as central theme the analysis of the circulation of people, objects and narratives between the fields of museums and human zoos, this research builds a map that spans both scientific and popular entertainment fields, seeking to understand the strategies used to construct exoticism: the primitivist figurations that distinguish the exotic market.