MONOCULTURE – Human Zoo
scan: (c) M HKA
Guide de la Section de L'Etat Indépendant du Congo à l'Exposition de Bruxelles − Tervuren, 1897
Human zoos were also part of the colonial sections of Belgian International Exhibitions from the end of the 19th until the mid-20th centuries. One of the most remarkable events was the 1897 Tervuren Exhibition, which displayed the products and people of the Congo Independent State, which was in the personal possession of King Leopold II until 1908. A lavishly illustrated guide book in the style of Art Nouveau provided an insight into the grandeur of the exposition that took place in the newly built Palais des Colonies and its gardens, where scenes of everyday African life attracted thousands of visitors. Besides being major propaganda for the economic potential of Belgian presence in the Congo, it also emphasised the ‘civilising’ work of Belgian missions. Colonial exhibitions contributed the most to the creation of the image of the inferior savage Other, and the legitimatisation of colonialism.
