The 'Exotic' as Mass Entertainment: Denmark 1878-1909

In: Race & class: a journal on racism, empire and globalisation, Band 45, Heft 2, S. 21-38

Abstract

Examines the "exotic" as popular entertainment in Danish exhibitions, 1878-1909, focusing on the sexual implications of the displayed persons & their relation to the matters of authenticity & evolutionary science. The displays -- eg, 25 Indians performing the activities of their daily village life in an exhibit at the Copenhagen Zoo -- may be viewed as representing the white male European's efforts to control the sexuality of both European & non-European women. Moreover, they may be seen as a collective endeavor to regulate & "narrate" a hierarchical world order. While the conventionally understood 19th-century colonial relationship does not explicitly pertain to the Danes & the "exotic" persons they briefly encountered in the exhibitions, a similar power & racial dynamic informed the contact. K. Coddon