Ethnological expositions, human zoos, and Negro villages were the few terms used to describe the public exhibits of human beings in natural setting and sometimes even in cages.
Ethnological expositions became popular around the 1870s around the time of New Imperialism era was at its peak. Many of these human zoos were based of the ideologies of scientific racism and Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is a theory explaining of why certain social groups have achieved success. The theory is based off the survival of the fittest concept.
Scientific racism is “propaganda, Propaganda with the veneer of science which was fabricated to support a racist paradigm.”
Charles Linnaeus in 1735 was one of the first scientists to distinguish between different types Homo sapiens; thus igniting the concept of scientific racism. He divided the Genus Homo sapiens into four distinct categories that were labeled: Americanus, Asiaticus, Africanus, and Europeaus.
Linnaeus classified Americanus as “stubborn; prone to anger; "free"; and governed by traditions. Thus, this form of Homo sapiens was definitely inferior and uncivilized.”
Linnaeus classified Africanus as “cunning, passive, and inattentive, and ruled by impulse.”
Linnaeus classified Europeaus as “changeable, clever, and inventive.”
After Linnaeus classification the concept of race was formed, and people began to distinguish themselves as “white” and superior compared to other races.
Human zoos were found in the 1870s around the world displaying in cities like New York City, London, Barcelona, and Hamburg with as many as 300,000 people attending each exhibition.
Most of the people displayed in human zoos came from the continent of Africa or South America.
Here is one example of blatant discrimination and prejudice that the ethnological expositions committed.
“In 1906, socialite and amateur anthropologist Madison Grant, head of the New York Zoological Society, had Congolese pygmy Ota Benga put on display at the Bronx Zoo in New York City alongside apes and other animals.
At the behest of Grant, a prominent eugenicist, the zoo director placed Ota Benga in a cage with an orangutan and labeled him The Missing Link, illustrating that in evolutionary terms Africans like Ota Benga were closer to apes than were Europeans. “
The human zoos put people of certain “races” on display and treated them like objects rather than humans. The viewer separated themselves from the displayed; thus allowing a disassociation between the races until they were separated enough for some people to actually believe that they were not human. These human zoos justified atrocities like the Holocaust, imperialism, and colonization. It is astounding that humans could believe in such ignorant ideologies that their particular “race” is superior based on culture, lifestyle, and customs, but yet more and more neo-Nazi populations are popping up.
http://www.ghettoology.co.uk/PAGES/XFACT/archives/st/stpages/Human%20zoo...
are an unfortunate and little remembered part of world history. One of my teachers once showed me a recreation of a poster advertising the "attractions." truely digusting stuff.
"How can we win where fools can be kings" Muse
I tried to post a picture that showed a man in an actual human zoo, but i do not know exactly how to upload the pictures on here.
i feel that human zoos are neglected to be taught in public schools. we need to communicate and discussed what we did, or risk repeating it.
There is one of two ways I have thought to do it. One is to write in word and put your picture in that document it then copy in paste in to your blog window after you push the "enable rich-text" button just below the window. I only had this not work once.
The other way it to, again with the "enable rich-text", once this is activated there is a small list of icons just about the blog window. The icon that looks like a tree is for image uploading and you will need a URL for that.
EDITTED: I just found this page that gives way better instructions
http://www.progressiveu.org/node/37573
Re-EDITTED: I found this one about embedding hyperlinks/ using HTML
http://www.progressiveu.org/node/37581
(Yes, I am to lazy to actually create the pretty links myself , so no jabs K)
Love is like a box of chocolates; if you chose wisely you won’t be disappointed and have to spit it out. ~T
There's a lot of stuff that's not taught in our schools, but since they can't seem to manage basic reading, writing and math, i don't think we should push them that far just yet.
This world is not full of wise men, yet provides all who take aportutinities the ability to gain more power!!
I always find it funny when I see Social Darwinism. I had learned in sociology that this idea of the survival of the fittest actually started from a sociology stand point and Darwin was second, some how the term was re-coined after him and not the original theorist/ ground breaker.
Or at least that is the way I remember it and have yet to over ride the info.
Anyway, amazing good blog. Did you plan on paralleling this idea to a now issue or am reading to much into what you said?
Love is like a box of chocolates; if you chose wisely you won’t be disappointed and have to spit it out. ~T
I am planning to write a blog on neo-nazis and white supremacists and their increasing popularity in some countries including germany.
but i see how it will go.
Yes, you are correct Social Darwinism didn't start with Darwin himself. i think people like Herbert Spencer,Francis Galton, and earlier thinkers like Thomas Hobbes.
I am looking forward to reading it. I can hardly believe that neo-nazism is gaining popularity but it does not suprise me.
Love is like a box of chocolates; if you chose wisely you won’t be disappointed and have to spit it out. ~T
I don't favor putting anybody in cages or subjecting them to ridicule. But I am interested in the turn this thread has taken towards a discussion of social darwinism. Nobody has out and out said it but I think I detect an undercurrent that many of you believe social darwinism is not applicable?
Has Social Darwinism been somehow discredited? Or is it just one of those topics that is taboo because of political correctness?
I think it is empiracally obvious that some societies are far more successful than others. I also think that it is very easy to make observations that explain this success in terms of the way their society and culture is organized. It seems clear to me that some societies are more "fit" than others.
Is there some competing theory that explains why a country like Japan which is endowed with almost no natural resources and a fairly crappy piece of realestate is able to kick butt by almost every measure over most of the world's other countries that are better endowed?
I don't see it as a racial thing. For example South and North Koreans are the same people (and very cloesly related to Japanese too). Yet one country thrives and the other starves. I think that is a prime example of social darwinism in action.
I do not know if social darwinism has been proven wrong or what, but from my stand point it is very much alive today.
I feel like going off on a political tangent and preaching but I do not know enough of these topics right now to do so in a well thought out manner. So briefly I think that people should be allowed to try to achieve and do better and survive higher then other but not at the detrement of others. I think this is part of what our country might have been founded on and seems to be trying to move away from with all this fair crap. When this idea of social darwinism starts to discriminate and smash down others instead of helping, is when I do not like it...to me this negative aspect has the stink of failure and cheating.
Maybe this is a random though and maybe the topic is taboo but I should go back to my class on anxiety now... I look forward to visiting here later in the evening.
Love is like a box of chocolates; if you chose wisely you won’t be disappointed and have to spit it out. ~T
Thank u so much for ur post! i no u didn't get to say much about it, but u brough up a really good point.
I think Social Darwinism has become taboo because some people misused the theory and based it off race ,and this justified taking over "inferior" races.
But by all means i think Social Darwinism is something worth studying.
I once wrote a blog trying to figure out why the northern hemisphere is better off than the southern hemisphere. Other theories on why some societies flourish is because of religion, and type of government?
I should have put in my blog that the human zoos were based off a version of social darwinism.
I never knew there was such a thing as human zoos. That's disturbing to say the least. I am very shocked. ~angi~
Other theories on why some societies flourish is because of religion, and type of government?
Maybe I am just ignorant of what is meant by the term social Darwinism. But to me religion, type of government and culture are all aspects of a society that help determine its "fitness" or ability to survive and compete.
I've also often seen Social Darwinism used as a model to describe why certain individuals flourish within a particular society and others fail.
Yeah your right.
Interesting about individuals being used as a model to discribe their sucess and others failure through Social Darwinism.
[/quote]Maybe I am just ignorant of what is meant by the term social Darwinism. But to me religion, type of government and culture are all aspects of a society that help determine its "fitness" or ability to survive and compete.
I've also often seen Social Darwinism used as a model to describe why certain individuals flourish within a particular society and others fail.[/quote]
that's what people think of as social darwinism now, but when darwin first started talking about 'survival of the fittest' people grabbed hold of it as a reason for slavery, 2nd hand citizenship, and racism.
is (I think) the man you are referring to in your post. If that's true, then he invented taxonomy for all living things. Or is Charles Linnaeus someone totally different? I suppose I'm confused because Carl von Linne, after using Latin in his taxonomy, became known by the Latin form of his name: Carlus Linnaeus.
~Violinstef
that is correct!!!!!
http://current.com/items/84906401/dalla_russia_con_odio.htm