Jocko(s), Mazurier and Freak-Shows: Man-Monkey’s Figurations and Representations in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the different figurations that appeared throughout the nineteenth century, around the archetype of the man-monkey. The latter appears to be the missing link, the element that definitively connects humanity and animality. To do this, we will start from the character of Jocko, protagonist of the drama Jocko ou le singe du Brésil (1825), as the first theatrical type of the man-animal hybrid, to end with the women and men-monkey presented and/or exhibited in the freak-shows that became popular throughout the century. Moreover, the objective is to highlight how Jocko, but also Mazurier or Krao Farani, participate in the reconfiguration and redefinition of the symbolic space of the frontier between humans and animals carried out in the 19th century.