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The end of ‘human zoos’

1945-1958

The exoticism that gave ‘human zoos’ their appeal would disappear with the Second World War. It would no longer be possible to hold such racist events in the wake of Nazi war crimes, the presence of colonial troops in the war, and increasingly vocal anticolonial sentiment. Discourse opposing the civilizing imperial model is now heard around the world.

Explicit racism, extreme colonialism and human exhibition fall out of favour. Moreover, visitors are no longer taken in by the myth; the ‘Other’ is now present in Europe through immigration and on movie screens; empires are collapsing. Along with the last of the colonial fairs, the last event of this type – as nations are at the brink of proclaiming independence –is the 1958 Brussels Universal Exposition.

Brussels World Exhibition. Belgium. Congolese village. 1958.
Photograph. Coll. RMCA, HP.1958.56.458; photo René Stalin (Inforcongo).

Bongolo et la princesse noire - Bongolo en de negerprinses.
Belgium. 1953. Poster by Wik for the André Cauvin film. © Priv. coll.

Exposition universelle de Bruxelles. Le pavillon du Congo.
Belgium. 1958. Postcard. © Groupe de recherche Achac, Paris/priv. coll.

During their study visit, the fifteen Congolese invited by the Ministry of Colonies
paid tribute to Congolese who died in Belgium in 1897.
Belgium. 1953. Photo (Inforcongo). Coll. RMCA Tervuren. HP.1955.17.43.

Vénus noire (movie by Abdellatif Kechiche).
France. Poster. 2010. Reserved Rights.