The human zoo is a concept that surfaces far too often in today’s world. This derogatory term is generally associated with exploitative and unethical practices, whereby humans are put on display for entertainment purposes. Whilst the circuses and cabarets that once featured as ‘human zoos’ may no longer be prominent events, demeaning public displays of people, usually labelled as ‘primitive’ or ‘natural’, still occur around the world today; resulting in a lasting legacy of the concept of the ‘human zoo’.
This article explains what is meant by the term ‘human zoo’, why human zoos were so harmful, the history of human zoos around the world, and whether practices resembling human zoos still exist in tourism today.
What is a human zoo?
A human zoo is just as it sounds – a display of human beings in a zoo-like setting. The people involved may not be in a cage as you might expect in a traditional zoo housing animals, but they are often financially and socially trapped by the need for income raised through their methods of entertaining tourists.
For example, in the 19th and early 20th centuries it was common for circuses to have displays of ‘freaks’, where people who had visible deformities or disabilities were put on display for entertainment. Nowadays, attractions which are criticised as ‘human zoos’ are less obvious, but they can still put people on display for public entertainment, for example through tours of remote villages or tribal areas.
Determining whether a tourist attraction qualifies as a ‘human zoo’ or not, however, is not a simple task. In fact, there are some attractions around the world, where the people involved deny the title human zoo and take offence to the use of the term. Take the Kayan tribes in northern Thailand, for example. Visited by tourists from around the globe who wish to see their famous long necks that are decorated with rings, many people have described these villages as human zoos. However, some Kayan people reject the label ‘human zoo’ and are offended by it.
Why is a ‘human zoo’ bad?
Also referred to as an ethnological exposition, the concept of the human zoo has gained a lot of negative traction in recent years, and rightly so.
Throughout history these displays of people have typically emphasised the view that those on display are from an inferior culture, and that ‘Western society’ is therefore superior. These human displays have been the continued subject of controversy, often being described as demeaning, derogatory, and dehumanising.
However, many tourist attractions which are referred to as a ‘human zoo’ operate in a far more ethical and sustainable manner than the circuses and fairs of the 20th century. Whilst there are still ramifications linked to dependency (i.e. the people cannot leave the ‘zoo’ because they depend on the income to provide for themselves and their families), many of these attractions are now entwined with the concept of community-based tourism, which put the needs of the community at the forefront.
Whilst these ethnological displays may do a lot more good than they did in the past for the local communities, questions of ethics remain. Is it ethical to take photos of people in their ‘primitive’ setting? Is it ethical to watch these people as if they were zoo animals? There have even been reports of visitors feeding the people in these ‘zoos’.
The history of human zoos
Human zoos have a long history. Exhibitions starring humans, circuses and other attractions have been in existence since the 1800s. Some examples are outlined below.
Paris Colonial Exposition
France held several colonial exhibitions in Paris that included ‘human zoos’, including the 1907 Colonial Exhibition in the Jardin d’Agronomie Tropicale and the 1931 International Colonial Exposition, which celebrated France’s colonial empire. Mock ‘indigenous villages’ were created and populated with people from French colonies, who were required to perform for visitors day after day.
Living conditions were poor, and at some exhibitions people became ill or died from diseases to which they had little immunity, or from the cold.
St. Louis World’s Fair
This world fair, located in Missouri, USA, was a popular attraction in 1904. As part of an initiative of the US Government in the Philippines, the fair featured recreated Filipino villages with live ‘actors’. The 47-acre ‘Philippine Reservation’ housed more than 1,000 Filipinos from a number of different ethnic groups.
The Igorot Village
The Igorot Village was one of the most profitable human zoos of all times. Featuring indigenous tribal peoples from the Philippines, this exhibition had demonstrations of people wearing minimal clothing and eating dog meat, and they were required to demonstrate sacred rituals for paying visitors.
These performances actually provided a misrepresentation of these indigenous peoples. In everyday life, these activities were reserved for special ceremonial occasions, rather than performed daily as they were at the fair. The fair ended in the early 1900s, but the popularity of such shows continued and they remained a key feature of fairs around Northern America for some time to come. Growing criticism eventually led to restrictions on such exhibitions.
Bronx Zoo
Ota Benga was a young Mbuti man from the Congo. He began his ‘career’ in a human zoo at the aforementioned St. Louis World’s Fair and in 1906 he was put on display at the Bronx Zoo in New York. Ota Benga initially believed that he was being hired to care for an elephant, but this was far from the reality.
Known in the zoo as the ‘savage pygmy’, Ota Benga was kept in a monkey enclosure. Visitors were drawn by his filed teeth (a cultural practice among his people), and bones were scattered around the enclosure to suggest savagery. He was often put in the enclosure with apes. The plaque on the wall of his enclosure read ‘Age, 23 years. Height, 4 feet 11 inches. Weight 103 pounds. Brought from the Kasai River, Congo Free State, South Central Africa, By D. Samuel P Verner. Exhibited each afternoon during September’. Ota Benga was the most popular attraction in the zoo, attracting thousands of visitors on busy days.
Eventually, protests from African American clergy and growing public concern led to the end of this horrific exhibition. Ota Benga was released into the care of an orphanage and later moved to Lynchburg, Virginia. He hoped to return to Africa, but the outbreak of the First World War made this impossible, and in 1916 he took his own life. In 2020, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the Bronx Zoo, formally apologised for its treatment of him.
Brussels World’s Fair
One of the last human zoos was in Belgium. The 1958 World’s Fair held an exhibition dedicated to Belgium’s colony in the Congo. As part of this exhibition, hundreds of Congolese men, women and children were brought to Brussels and placed into the artificial villages enclosed by a bamboo wall.
Many people visited the attraction, often throwing bananas or money over the walls. The Congolese people were bussed in and out of the exhibition each day. They were housed in an isolated building which offered cramped accommodation, strict limitations on visitors and limited opportunities for the people to leave the building. They also suffered abuse from some visitors.
Following complaints about how the Congolese participants were being treated, many were sent home and the exhibit was closed. By then, the growth of television and changing attitudes meant that public interest in human exhibitions had declined.
Modern-day human zoos
Although Brussels in 1958 is often described as the last human zoo, there are still echoes of human zoos in many parts of the world. A key question is how the term should be defined. Throughout history the people involved were largely trapped within their ‘enclosures’ and accommodations provided to them. Nowadays, people are not enclosed in such a way, but this does not mean that some are not ‘trapped’ in other ways.
In today’s world, people are confined in ways other than physical barriers. This is most commonly due to monetary factors, but society could also play a role here too. Take the women who work in the sex tourism trade in Thailand, for example. Many people working in this industry do so because they have few other ways to earn the money needed to support their families. Likewise, young girls may feel socially obligated to take their place in the long-neck tribe in Northern Thailand, donning rings on their necks and ‘performing’ for tourists each day.
Other modern examples that have been criticised as ‘human zoos’ include the so-called ‘human safaris’ in India’s Andaman Islands, where tourists travelling along the Andaman Trunk Road sought to see and photograph the isolated Jarawa people, leading to court action and restrictions on tourism; and a number of controversial ‘African village’ exhibits at European zoos and parks in the 1990s and 2000s.
Is a Go-Go bar or a tribal village an example of a human zoo? This comes down to definition. On paper, the answer is probably no. But, as with many issues like this, it isn’t black and white. Some people claim that attractions such as these are demeaning and exploitative and that these people should be ‘rescued’. Other people stand strong that the people involved do so voluntarily and that it is their choice to make a living in this way.
Effective tourism management is key. There are ways to sustainably manage tourist attractions, exhibitions etc that involve human participants (e.g. the Kayan tribes in Thailand, Maasai tribes in Kenya), without exploitation or notions of inferiority. Community-based tourism is one solution to this- this is when tourism planning and development takes place with the involvement and priorities of the local community at the heart of the project.
Video: Do human zoos still exist?
Human zoos: FAQs
Below are answers to some of the most common questions about human zoos.
What is a human zoo?
A human zoo, also called an ethnological exhibition, was a public display of people – usually from colonised or indigenous communities – in a zoo-like setting, presented as ‘primitive’ for the entertainment of Western audiences.
When did human zoos exist?
Human zoos were most common from the 19th century until the early 20th century, and appeared at world’s fairs, colonial exhibitions and zoos. The Brussels World’s Fair in 1958 is often described as the last human zoo.
Who was Ota Benga?
Ota Benga was a Congolese man who was exhibited at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and then displayed in the monkey house at the Bronx Zoo in New York in 1906. The zoo’s operator formally apologised in 2020.
Do human zoos still exist today?
Human zoos in their original form no longer exist, but some modern tourist attractions, such as certain ethnic village tours or ‘human safaris’, have been criticised for putting people on display in similar ways.
How can tourists avoid human zoo-type attractions?
Tourists can choose community-based tourism experiences that are run by, and benefit, local people, ask permission before taking photographs and avoid attractions where people appear to be exploited or treated as spectacles.
The human zoo: Conclusion
The human zoo is a harrowing part of history. Human zoos as they once existed have not been seen for more than 60 years, but there are remnants of the concept in parts of the tourism industry today, and it is important that tourists and tourism businesses think carefully about the ethics of attractions that put people on display.
If you found this article on human zoos useful, these articles may also be of interest:
- Ethical tourism: Everything you need to know
- Are zoos ethical? The pros and cons of visiting the zoo
- Sustainable tourism explained: What, why and where
- Volunteer tourism: Everything you need to know
