1st Edition
Ethnic Expositions in Italy, 1880 to 1940 Humans on Exhibition
Comprehensively analyzing for the first time the phenomenon of ethnic living expositions in Italy between the 19th and 20th centuries, this book deals with the subject from a comparative European perspective and over the long term, studying analogies and differences in precedents as far back as the early modern age.
The research, which seeks to go beyond the simplistic concept of "human zoos," intends to highlight the intentions, assumptions, and mechanisms of realization of the exhibitions of exotic living humans and the reactions from both the exhibited subjects and the public, exploiting a wide variety of heterogeneous sources capable of bringing out a kind of widespread popular ethno-anthropological ideas and the elements of racism contained in it. The book contributes to the understanding of Western mindsets and attitudes towards human diversity as they emerge from mass spectacular events that have over time become an international business. The present edition refers to the second Italian edition, containing an update discussing studies on the subject that have appeared between 2013 and 2021.
Ethnic Expositions in Italy intends to fill a historiographical gap and to align Italian historiographies with European ones, which have long since come to terms with this legacy of the past and have explored its various historical manifestations in depth.
This book is an excellent source for researchers and students alike, as well as those interested in the mechanisms that have helped shape European ideas and sensibilities on race and ethno-anthropological diversity.
Contents
Abbreviations
Narratives about humans on exhibition
Acknowledgments
Editorial note
Introduction
1. Words and things
2. Historiography: Human exhibitions
3. Historiography: The colonial experience
4. Distribution
5. A look at the present
6. Ten years later
PART ONE
I. From the beaches of the Red Sea to the banks of the River Po
II. Exhibitions, colonies, otherness
II.1. A long European story resulting from globalisation
II. 2. The century of exhibitions: A world of shows and the spectacle of the world
III. Turin 1884: ‘A snippet of African life in the heart of European life’
III.1 Arriving in third class, returning in first class: The Italian adventure of six Africans
III. 2. Under the spotlight
III.3. The other side of the coin: Racism with a human face
III.4. The Assabian ‘ruse’: Political controversy and imaginative satirical humour.
PART TWO
IV. Palermo 1892 and Milan 1894
IV.1. Palermo 1892
IV.2. Milan 1894
V. Missionary exhibitions and ethno-exhibitions
V.1. La Civiltà Cattolica and the world of exhibitions
V.2. Nineteenth-century precedents and trends (1858–1906)
V.3. Genoa 1892
V.4. Turin 1898 and further developments in the Fascist era
VI. Show villages
VI.1. General aspects
VI.2. Between the Dinkas and the Wild West Show: Milan, Turin, and elsewhere, 1895–1906
VI.3 Turin 1898 and beyond
VII. Exhibitions and science: From villages to the anatomical theatre
VII.1. The ‘anatomy of the Negro’: Comparatism and racism
VII.2. Anatomical findings and real lives
VII.3. Forms of racism: Spectacular exhibitions, public health, and medical science
VIII. ‘Reverse explorations’ and ‘Geography books in action’: Exhibitions and colonial villages in early twentieth-century Italy
VIII.1. Turin 1902
VIII.2. Milan 1906
IX. From the fiftieth anniversary of Italian national unification to the wars (1911–1914)
IX.1. Turin 1911
IX.2. Genoa 1914
X. Conclusion: Towards empire, racial laws, and the war (1920–1940)
Illustrations
Bibliography
Biography
Guido Abbattista is Professor of Modern History at the University of Trieste. He is a specialist in the cultural history of colonialism, imperialism and human diversity 18th-19th century. He published books on James Mill, Edmund Burke, Lord Bolingbroke, Anquetil-Duperron, abbé Raynal, the European view of China in the Enlightenment and living human ethno-exhibitions 18th-20th century.
