Live Human Exhibits: The World Columbian Exposition as a Space of Empire
A theatricalised space that prompts visitors to immerse themselves into spectacles of what was construed as racial otherness, while acknowledging notions of Western cultural superiority and investing in public approval of US imperial efforts abroad—that was the fundamental idea underlying the Midway Plaisance, an amusement park committed to displaying human beings in elaborately set up ‘ethnic villages’ at the 1893 World Columbian exposition in Chicago. The following event staged on the fairgrounds is a paradigmatic example of the political agenda motivating the exposition: a group of Samoan men march together, wearing traditional attire, which includes a loincloth, a helmet, and necklaces. They carry a wooden sword, signaling their status as warriors. The nakedness of their upper bodies underlines their erect posture and athletic constitution. While the marchers look straight ahead, they are surrounded by a crowd of onlookers, mostly white bourgeois women, who gaze upon their bodies with fear and […]