Published: 2018-12-31

“LOOKING BACK...”. POZNAŃ EXHIBITION OF THE TRIBES OF THE NILE VALLEY, 1914

Dagnosław Demski

Abstract

This article presents the ethnic show dedicated to the Tribes of the Nile Valley in Poznań (1914), one of the shows of non-European peoples (German: Völkerschauen) which were taking place in the territories incorporated into Prussia between 1876 and 1914. This phenomenon could be interpreted both as an ethnic show, and as public popular lecture of anthropology. Völkerschauen were organized on the grounds belonging to the Poznań zoological garden, and displayed representatives of 6 groups of Africans. The form and content of these shows aimed to illustrate the main assumptions of the race discourse. Therefore these performances should be interpreted as forming part of the race discourse which dominated Europe before the First World War. The data presented here is based on press releases and archive materials.

Keywords:

ethnographic shows, rare discourse, Völkerschauen, human zoo, ethnographic expedition, Jan Czekanowski

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Citation rules

Demski, D. (2018). “LOOKING BACK.”. POZNAŃ EXHIBITION OF THE TRIBES OF THE NILE VALLEY, 1914. Etnografia Polska, 62, 199–219. Retrieved from https://journals.iaepan.pl/ep/article/view/138

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