Early African entertainments abroad : from the Hottentot Venus to Africa's first Olympians / Bernth Lindfors.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lindfors, Bernth, author.

Series:

Africa and the diaspora

Africa and the diaspora: history, politics, culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Africans--Europe--Public opinion--History.

Africans.

Racism in popular culture.

History.

Black people in popular culture.

Public opinion.

Africa--In popular culture.

Africa.

Black people in popular culture--History.

Racism in popular culture--History.

Sideshows.

Europe.

Africa in popular culture.

Africans--Public opinion.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

248 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2014]

Summary:

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries African and pseudo-African performers were displayed as curiosities throughout Europe and America. Appearing in circuses, ethnographic exhibitions, and traveling shows, these individuals and troupes drew large crowds. As Bernth Lindfors shows, the showmen, impresarios, and even scientists who brought supposedly representative inhabitants of the "Dark Continent" to a gaping public often selected the performers for their sensational impact. Spotlighting and exaggerating physical, mental, or cultural differences, the resulting displays reinforced pernicious racial stereotypes and left a disturbing legacy. Using period illustrations and texts, Early African Entertainments Abroad illuminates the mindset of the era's largely white audiences as they viewed wax models of Africans with tails and watched athletic competitions showcasing hungry cannibals. White spectators were thus assured of their racial superiority. And blacks were made to appear less than fully human precisely at the time when abolitionists were fighting to end slavery and establish equality. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Courting the Hottentot Venus 10

2 The Bottom Line: African Caricature in Georgian England 34

3 Ira Aldridge at Covent Garden 47

4 Clicks and Clucks: Victorian Reactions to San Speech 75

5 Charles Dickens and the Zulus 89

6 A Zulu View of Victorian London 111

7 Dr. Kahn and the Niam-Niams 123

8 The United African Twins on Tour: A Captivity Narrative 131

9 Circus Africans 158

10 Africa's First Olympians 176.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references(pages 231-238) and index.

ISBN:

9780299301644

0299301648

OCLC:

872139230