Africans on Stage: Studies in Ethnological Show Business (Paperback)

~ Bernth Lindfors (Editor) "What makes the Hottentot so hot?" muses the Cowardly Lion in the film The Wizard of Oz..." (more)
Key Phrases: spectatorial lust, hottentot woman, deponent further saith, New York, Hottentot Venus, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"...engaging, richly illustrated, and well-reserached.... Part anthology, cultural studies, history, journalism and political science, it... manages to consistently engage the reader..." - African Studies Review

"Lindfors's book shows how the 'edutainment' of the 19th century perpetuated an ignorance of Africa that makes it easy for whites to stay racist and difficult for blacks to gain an accurate and dignified understanding of their heritage.... an unusually strong, readable collection." -- Boston Book Review

Ethnological show business -- that is, the displaying of foreign peoples for commercial and/or educational purposes -- has a very long history. In the 19th and 20th centuries some of the most interesting individuals and groups exhibited in Europe and America came from Africa, or were said to come from Africa. African showpeople (real as well as counterfeit), managers and impresarios, and the audiences who came to gape are the featured attractions here -- how they individually and in concert helped to shape Western perceptions of Africans.

About the Author

Bernth Lindfors is Professor of English and African Literatures at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the founding editor of the journal of Research in African Literature and has written and edited a number of books on African verbal arts, the most recent being African Textualities: Texts, Pre-texts, and Contexts of African Literature (1997).

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253212456
• ISBN-13: 978-0253212450
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,969,794 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb combination of thought-provoking essays., June 6, 2001

By	Lee Hall (United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Berth Lindfors has done an impressive job, cover to cover. There is a sucker born every minute, and unfortunately a great number of individuals are unwillingly caught up in the trade that allows showpeople to sell their tickets. This book shows how a variety of human "specimens" have been treated like animals to sell world's fairs, circuses, etc.

The authors fall short of mentioning that animals have been treated like animals too -- for example, the Bronx Zoo's exhibition of a San tribesmember in a cage with an orang-utan was demeaning for both the former and the latter. But the book shows us in a striking way the problematic nature of the human obsession with cages and the spectacle.

Excellent study of the dynamic of racism, sexism, imperialist greed, and the roots of prejudice.