Colonial human shows in Hamburg – Germany | Canada | Tanzania | New Caledonia/Kanaky
Themed tours
Anke Schwarzer, 2024
Colonial activities extended not only to the territories occupied by European states in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Colonialism also shaped the societies that colonized them: from imperial ways of life and consumption to colonial knowledge production and racist representations of Indigenous and Black people in art, culture, and commerce.
Particularly popular forms of colonial presentation of racialized and exoticized people were so-called "ethnographic exhibitions" in public gardens or zoos. Exhibitions in ethnographic and natural history museums, established as new "cathedrals of knowledge" from the mid-19th century onward, were also popular among the white middle class. In addition, children and adults alike collected colorful advertising images depicting people from colonized areas in a mostly derogatory or mocking manner.
The most famous organizer of human zoos was Carl Hagenbeck (1844-1913), whose zoo still exists today. The shows were degrading and can be described as a breeding ground for white supremacist sentiments and colonial-racist gaze regimes—although a handful of shows were "self-organized" by Black people and people of color, for the purpose of earning money or even surviving as non- white people under National Socialism.
Some descendants of human zoo participants, such as former soccer world champion Christian Lali Kake Karembeu, are seeking – so far unsuccessfully – an apology and access to the family business's archives.
This article highlights various forms of colonial human exhibitions in Hamburg and their long-lasting reverberations that extend into the present day. Out of respect and to avoid the reproduction of colonial-racist settings, it refrains from the well-known images of these events.
Weblinks:
www.ankeschwarzer.com und www.remapping-hamburg.de
References:
Dreesbach, Anne: Gezähmte Wilde. Die Zurschaustellung „exotischer“ Menschen in Deutschland 1870-1940, 2005.
Flemming, Johannes: Führer durch Carl Hagenbeck’s Tierpark Stellingen. Carl Hagenbeck’s Eigentum und Verlag: Hamburg, 1914.
Gouaffo, Albert: Prinz Dido aus Kamerun im wilhelminischen Deutschland. In: Blanchard, Pascal / Bancel, Nicolas / Boëtsch, Gilles / et. al. (Hrsg.): MenschenZoos. Schaufenster der Unmenschlichkeit, 2012.
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Dieser Beitrag wurde im Rahmen des Projekts „Digitale Kartographierung der Hamburger Kolonialgeschichte“ verfasst. Das Projekt ist eine Kooperation zwischen der Stiftung Historische Museen Hamburg, dem Arbeitskreis HAMBURG POSTKOLONIAL und dem Berliner Verbundprojekt „Dekoloniale Erinnerungskultur in der Stadt“. Es wird gefördert von der Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg und der Kulturstiftung des Bundes.
Stationen
"Human shows" in Carl Hagenbeck's Thierpark
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