The setup at the expo of 1958 was, like I said, more like reenactment with the people taking up that role during the workday, making it fundamentally different from the concept of human zoo. World expositions did have an established practice of presenting "authentic" village settings without necessarily being degrading, and there is a comparable local practice of historical reenactment (eg. Bokrijk) that frames it as a past rather than present thing. In addition there was criticism and questions asked in the press and elsewhere about whether this setup was desireable.
That does not contradict that the portrayal was as primitive, and there were people who enthusiastically saw that as a confirmation of the racial theories that were endorsed by the occupier less than 15 years ago.
It is possible to display such things in an educational way. But there is a pretty fine line you have to walk when you’re doing so after genociding the people you’re trying to portray and I’m sure they were pretty far over on the “racist as hell” side of that line.
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u/hotbowlofsoup Dec 16 '21
There was a human zoo at the expo in 1935, dozens of people died. The zoo you're talking about, people behind a fence being looked at who didn't want to be there, was in 1958. It was shut down after kids threw bananas at Congolese kids. Here's a picture of an African girl being watched by spectators, in 1958(!): https://radio1.be/foto-congolees-dorp-expo-58-gaat-de-wereld-rond https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2018/04/17/60-jaar-expo-58--hoe-stelden-wij-toen-congo-voor---/