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Paper short abstract:

Ethnographic and freak shows (staged otherness) at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries — a topic without assessment in Latvian science and society. Re-discovery of those events requires a re-telling and a re-cognition of the causes led to their collective forgetting.

Paper long abstract:

Staging otherness events (exhibited people with different ethnic and racial descent or people with physical disabilities) widespread in Western Europe and the USA also took place in the territory of the Russian Empire. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Latvia, as part of this non-typical colonial state, had hosted, as we currently know, more than 18 ethnographic and freak shows and anatomical exhibitions.

Some years ago, Polish ethnologists began the study of this phenomenon within Eastern Europe, including Latvia, indicating a vacuum of information on this topic in Latvian society, literature and social sciences and humanities. Answers to the question — did no such events really take place in the territory of Latvia? - led to the next question — Why do we not know about them?

Re-discovering those events was an amazing process itself. Posters, advertisements (mostly in the local German press) and police registers are evidence of the variety and intensity of this kind of entertainment in Riga and other cities. Re-telling these facts of the cultural history of Latvia need to talk about the 19th century public's entertainment habits, the development of new knowledge and perceptions towards the otherness, and that is challenging in the frame of the political correctness of modern science and the world. The issue of collective forgetting in this context must be seen from the perspective of the 19th century Latvian society's social strata, the availability of venues, and Latvia's historical events caused by the Second World War.