Human Zoo: Exploitation and Exhibition of Real People
- U-Report
VIVA – In the late 1800's colonial period exhibitions became popular in the western world, these exhibits and exploitation of real people called as Human Zoo. It turns out that not only exhibition the artifacts but also people too.
In the pre-cinema era, these shows allowed westerners to see foreigners they had only heard of and caused large audiences to clamor for the show. Here’s the event that featured human zoo at that time:
1. The Igrot Village
Suku Igorot
- Library of Congress
One of the most popular exhibits was the Igorot village, an ethnic group perceived as the least civilized of those on display.
The crowds of audience and the revenue generated from this attraction have surpassed that of all the other villages combined. The exhibition features natives’ people in minimal clothing and who could often be found eating dogs as the audience clamoured for a better look.
The tribe people also rarely perform sacred rituals, this is only as a daily entertainment to please the audience who need pleasure.
After the exhibition ended, the popularity of the show continued and members of the Igorot troupe became one of the tools at fairs and carnivals in and around North America. After protests by Filipinos, the US government in the Philippines banned the show in 1914.
2. 1904: St. Louis World’s Fair
World's Fair of St. Louis in 1904 was an international exhibition in Missouri which, like other world fairs of the time, was an entertaining spectacle, as well as a means of promotion for products and industries from various regions.
The event boasts a variety of displays, including windmills, pavilions made of corn, and a number of large-scale "living fairs," including an exhibition of reinvented Filipino villages, an initiative of the US Government in the Philippines.
The exhibition features an area of ??47 hectares with more than 1,000 Filipinos from dozens of tribes.
