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Synopsis

Ethnological show businessÑthat is, the displaying of foreign peoples for commercial and/or educational purposesÑhas 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 ÒDark ContinentÓ? If the display was a dramatic oneÑthat is, if the Africans sang, danced or acted out eventsÑwhat 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 authentic were these performances? Where did the performers actually come from? What notions about Africa and Africans were these exhibitions meant to convey? African showpeople, real as well as counterfeit, are featured as the main attractions in this book, but standing just behind them are a supporting case of managers and impresarios whose efforts to capitalize on spectacular displays of physical and cultural differences share some of the spotlight. The audiences that turned out to see such shows, expecting them to corroborate what they had heard or read about remarkable African abnormalities and idiosyncrasies, are also glimpsed in illuminating sidelights. Africans on Stage is a book about how these three groupsÑplayers, promoters and spectatorsÑindividually and in concert helped to shape European and American perceptions of Africans.