Human Zoo Opens in Paris to Combat Racism
A new exhibit displaying photographs of debased humans has opened at the tribal arts Quai Branly Museum in Paris Monday.
Former soccer star Lilian Thuram serves as curator of the exhibit to further his efforts against racism. He hopes the display will make people question deep-held beliefs about other races.
“You have to have the courage to say that each of us have prejudices, and these prejudices have a history,” said Thuram speaking to The Associated Press.
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“Exhibitions: The Invention of the Savage” at the Parisian museum tells the story of men, women, and children who were forced from their homes in Africa and Asia during the mid-20th century and labeled as savages. Indigenous peoples were seen as exotic or monstrous and shown to European elites in real human zoos. Enslaved or displayed as if they were animals, the African people were debased in order to justify the cruelty of colonial rule.
Thuram believes that the long-running human exhibits created racism that lingers today.
“There is only one species of homo sapiens,” said the 29-year-old Guadeloupe native. “This ‘scientific racism’ was introduced to the population. Visitors of the time could come to the Jardin d’Acclimation and see people from Asia, Africa, Oceania behind an enclosure, and they were presented as savages,” Thuram explained, naming just one of the numerous human zoos that existed during the colonial times.
In 1931, the grandparents of Thuram’s fellow teammate Christian Karembeu were displayed at the Jardin d’Acclimation in Paris and labeled “cannibals.” From the early 19th century and beyond, similar exhibits gained popularity and swept Europe, Japan, Australia, and the U.S.
“You can see that there is a history, and unfortunately today we have the consequences of this history,” continued Thuram.
Thuram’s exhibit also includes paintings, sculptures, posters, books, and even metallic devices that were once used to measure skulls in order to demonstrate racial distinctions and bolster the belief that whites were biologically superior.
The exhibit at the Quai Branly Museum runs until June 3.
