Exhibiting the ‘Other’ then and Now: ‘Human Zoos’ in Southern China and Thailand
Exhibiting the ‘Other’ then and Now: ‘Human Zoos’ in Southern China and Thailand
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展示过去和现在的“他者”：中国南方和泰国的“人类动物园”
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发表时间：
2011
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通讯作者：
A. Trupp
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作者：
A. Trupp
从18世纪到20世纪初，一种以真人为展出对象的公共展览形式在世界范围内流行起来。这些殖民博览会在世界各地举行，从纽约到伦敦、维也纳、莫斯科或东京，通过强调参展者的身体和后来的政治、经济和社会文化差异，展示了“他者”，这些人往往是从海外殖民地“输入”的。这些不平等的表现形式通常被称为“人类动物园”，它们“兼具了展览、表演、教育和统治的功能”。即使殖民人类动物园的时代在20世纪40年代结束了，人们仍然可以在现代“民族旅游”的背景下观察到类似的发展和权力关系。在东南亚和中国，有几个“民族村”和“民族主题公园”，向付费的国内和国际游客展示异国情调的少数民族。虽然一些观察人士哀叹这些旅游景点是现代人类动物园，但另一些人认为，它们可能有助于保护稀有文化，并为展出的种族群体提供收入来源。本文简要概述了这些由古董柜转变为殖民地展览和民族主题公园/村庄的可疑景点的发展历程，并讨论了泰国和中国南部的例子。
From the eighteenth to the early-twentieth century, a form of public exhibition in which the objects of display were ‘real people’ gained worldwide popularity. These colonial expositions, taking place all around the world, from New York to London, Vienna, Moscow, or Tokyo, were exhibiting ‘otherness’ by emphasizing physical and later politico-economic and socio-cultural differences of the displayed persons who were often ‘imported’ from overseas colonies. These forms of unequal representation are commonly referred to as ‘human zoos’ and are “exceptional in combining the functions of exhibition, performance, education and domination”. Even though the era of colonial human zoos ended in the 1940s, one can still observe similar developments and power relations in the context of modern ‘ethnic tourism’. In South-East Asia and China, several ‘ethnic villages’ and ‘ethnic theme parks’ exist that put on show exotic appearing ethnic minorities to paying domestic and international tourists. While some observers deplore these tourist attractions as modern human zoos, others argue that they may help preserving a rare culture and provide a source of income for the displayed ethnic groups. This article gives a short overview of the development of these questionable attractions that were transformed from cabinets of curiosities to colonial exhibitions and ethnic theme parks/villages, and discusses present examples from Thailand and Southern China.