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'Putova B, 2018: FREAK SHOWS. OTHERNESS OF THE HUMAN
BODY AS A FORM OF PUBLIC PRESENTATION. Anthropologie (Brno) 56, 2: 91-102'. |
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| Abstract | | The paper presents an anthropological analysis of freak shows as a form of an inhuman and Eurocentric
approach to the physical and cultural differences of people from non-European cultures or to the physically handicapped.
In the 19th century, their otherness became the subject of exhibitions and other forms of public presentation taking place
mainly in circuses, zoological gardens or wax figure museums. The paper describes the principles and strategies of freak
shows that were defined by prominent impresarios such as Phineas Taylor Barnum, Carl Hagenbeck and Albert Geoffroy
Saint-Hilaire. Freak shows accentuated particularly the exotic features of the exhibited individuals, their morphological
differences, deviations and anomalies differing from the norm of the European population. In this context, the paper
follows from the work of Eugen Strouhal, a Czech physician, anthropologist and archaeologist, in the field of physical
anthropology and paleopathology. | | | | Keywords | | Freak shows – Anthropology – Otherness – Human body – Impresarios | | | | DOI | | https://doi.org/10.26720/anthro.17.07.20.1 | | |
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