Africans on Stage Studies in Ethnological Show Business

Ethnological Show Business That Is, the Displaying of Foreign Peoples for Commercial And/Or Educational Purposes Has a Very Long History in Europe, and It Became Increasingly Common After Advances in Navigational Technology Put Europeans in Touch With Human Communities All Over the Globe. As the World Shrank, Traffic in All Kinds of Exotic Goods Grew, and Living Specimens From Remote Corners of the Earth Were in Great Demand. Indeed, the Stranger the Creature, the Stronger the Draw. in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Some of the Most Interesting Individuals and Groups Exhibited in Europe and America Came From Africa, or Were Said to Come From Africa.What Did the Average Spectator Think of Such Representatives From the Dark Continent? If the Display Was a Dramatic One That Is, If the Africans Sang, Danced or Acted Out Events What Opinions Did Observers Form of Them As Performers and As Human Beings? How Was the Spectacle Staged, and Who Organized and Managed the Show? How Authent