“Indianos”, Ethnological Exhibitions and Freak Shows in French Third- Republic Theatre
Abstract
The aim of this article is to trace the parallelisms between the theatrical character of the “Indiano” and the aborigines exhibited in fair barracks during the beginnings of the Third Republic in France. Through a close reading of Eugène Labiche’s vaudeville, Le prix Martin (1876), I analyze the physical, moral and symbolic resemblances between the rastaquouère Hernandez and the natives featured in freak shows and other exhibitions of contemporary phénomènes. Such an approach will provide a critical perspective on the Parisian bourgeoisie that defined so much of itself through its rejection of foreign otherness.
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