De-Humanizing Humans
Drawing Connections: Categorization of Humans as Non-Human Animals
In week 8, Professor Imada explored the human zoos and freak shows that became part of American culture in the 1800s and early 1900s. People perceived as exotic or strange were placed in exhibitions to be observed by middle- and upper-class members of society. This act of observation reminds me of the paintings created by Albert Eckhout, a Dutch painter who traveled to the Americas and painted portraits of Indigenous natives.
Zoos: Humans as Animals
P.T. Barnum was an American impresario (meaning he financed large events) who owned a museum that operated from 1841-1865 and pioneered the idea of the circus.
Barnum founded the American Museum circa 1860, and held "Freak Shows" that displayed people as ambiguous figures. Among those displayed were the "Living Siamese Twins," two conjoined twins from the region of Siam. There were also the "2 Albino Girls," or "White Negroes," which put two young albino girls on display with their black mother.
Who was considered a freak?
- Those with physical & intellectual disabilities
- People who appeared different or strange
- Rosemarie Garland-Thomson coined the term "extraordinary bodies" to describe those put in freak shows
However, what made a person into a "freak" was the framing and presentation of their physical form as peculiar, spectacular, and strange. Freak shows distanced the subject from the viewer through stylizing and repackaging.
Those who were displayed as freaks were most often non-whites. In the Chicago World's Fair, for example, the 'midways' (carnivals) exhibited people from all over the world to give white Americans a "glimpse into other cultures." Labeling someone as a freak was also an act of racial separation. African Americans were frequently compared to primates and monkeys, as in the case of Ota Benga, who was placed in a monkey enclosure in the Bronx Zoo in 1906 after being sold to an American man from Congo.
White Americans were captivated by the act of viewing people who were different from them by skin color, language, clothing, or physical disabilities.
The Act of Observation in Eckhout's Artwork
Albert Eckhout was a Dutch painter who specialized in portraits and still life. He was taken to Dutch-Brazil to record the landscape, inhabitants, and plant & animal life. Between 1641 and 1643, Eckhout created paintings of Brazil's inhabitants from the Tupi and Tapuya tribes.
In week 1 of winter quarter, Professor Herbert posed questions about these paintings. Are the figures being depicted as specimen? What is their human quality?
While Eckhout's paintings are different from other specimen paintings (with the inclusion of a background and surrounding flora and fauna), the Brazilian natives are displayed in a way that prompts observation.
I find that Eckhout's display of the Tapuya Woman (pictured, left) is very similar to the way that P.T. Barnum displayed people in his freak shows. Eckhout's paintings were for European viewing and consumption, just like Barnum created his human zoos for white American consumption.
While these paintings provided a glimpse into the lives of Brazilian natives, they maintained a sense of separation between the viewer and the specimen. In Tapuya Woman, we see that the native woman is not wearing clothes; she just uses a few branches to cover up. The woman is also holding a human hand, and a human foot sticks out of the basket on her head, to convey that she is a cannibal. Eckhout's portrayal of this woman solidifies the sense of superiority that Europeans felt towards non-Whites, and strengthened the idea that people from other cultures were un-civilized savages.
Both P.T. Barnum and Albert Eckhout displayed people who appeared "exotic," strange, disfigured, or peculiar, for mass consumption. Eckhout sparked European curiosity through his paintings of Brazilian natives, which portrayed them as uncivilized cannibals. Similarly, Barnum used his zoos and museums to portray people from other countries, specifically non-whites, and give white Americans a look into different cultures. His freak shows displayed those with disabilities and people from different races. By putting humans on display, Eckhout and Barnum invited viewers to observe, thus relating humans to specimens or zoo animals. They may have lived 200 years apart, but both of these men contributed to patterns of dehumanization in Euro-American society.
Final Reflection
During the past two quarters of Humanities Core, I have thoroughly enjoyed creating this website to engage with the course topics and themes. Being able to creatively interpret the lectures is one of the reasons I've loved working on the website. I think my favorite assignment was Activity #2, a re-interpretation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The prompt allowed me to explore Shakespearean themes in a different time period and setting. I also enjoyed Activity #6, because I was able to make a connection between lectures from week 1 and week 8 of winter quarter.
In creating this website, I've also taken note of a difference in my writing style between assignments. When writing for a website audience, it's a bit more casual -- I use acronyms, abbreviations, and contractions freely. This is much different from my writing style for essays, in which I try to carry a "scholarly" tone. There is a similarity across both, which is that I tend to explain things and give definitions of certain terms in the case that someone who hasn't taken the class is reading my work.
Overall, I have loved that the website project prompts creativity and encourages me to use images, videos, and other forms of media to engage an audience. This is definitely a skill I'd like to keep practicing, and hopefully in the future I get to work on a website assignment like this again.