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.