Ethnic expositions in Italy, 1880 TO 1940 : humans on exhibition / Guido Abbattista ; (translated from Italian by Vanessa Di Stefano).

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2024.

©2024

1 online resource (xxx, 482 pages) : illustrations.

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Guido Abbattista is Professor of Modern History at the University of Trieste. He is a specialist in the cultural history of colonialism, imperialism and human diversity 18th-19th century. He published books on James Mill, Edmund Burke, Lord Bolingbroke, Anquetil-Duperron, abbé Raynal, the European view of China in the Enlightenment and living human ethno-exhibitions 18th-20th century.

Comprehensively analyzing for the first time the phenomenon of ethnic living expositions in Italy between the 19th and 20th centuries, this book deals with the subject from a comparative European perspective and over the long term, studying analogies and differences in precedents as far back as the early modern age. The research, which seeks to go beyond the simplistic concept of "human zoos," intends to highlight the intentions, assumptions, and mechanisms of realization of the exhibitions of exotic living humans and the reactions from both the exhibited subjects and the public, exploiting a wide variety of heterogeneous sources capable of bringing out a kind of widespread popular ethno-anthropological ideas and the elements of racism contained in it. The book contributes to the understanding of Western mindsets and attitudes towards human diversity as they emerge from mass spectacular events that have over time become an international business. The present edition refers to the second Italian edition, containing an update discussing studies on the subject that have appeared between 2013 and 2021. Ethnic Expositions in Italy intends to fill a historiographical gap and to align Italian historiographies with European ones, which have long since come to terms with this legacy of the past and have explored its various historical manifestations in depth. This book is an excellent source for researchers and students alike, as well as those interested in the mechanisms that have helped shape European ideas and sensibilities on race and ethno-anthropological diversity.

Taylor & Francis. EBA 2024-2025.

Print version:

Books / Online

English

October 04, 2024

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Italy > Ethnic relations.