Guido Abbattista is Professor of Modern History at the University of Trieste. He is a specialist in the cultural history of colonialism, imperialism and human diversity 18th-19th century. He published books on James Mill, Edmund Burke, Lord Bolingbroke, Anquetil-Duperron, abbé Raynal, the European view of China in the Enlightenment and living human ethno-exhibitions 18th-20th century.

• ContentsAbbreviationsNarratives about humans on exhibitionAcknowledgmentsEditorial noteIntroduction1. Words and things2. Historiography: Human exhibitions3. Historiography: The colonial experience4. Distribution5. A look at the present6. Ten years laterPART ONEI. From the beaches of the Red Sea to the banks of the River PoII. Exhibitions, colonies, othernessII.1. A long European story resulting from globalisationII. 2. The century of exhibitions: A world of shows and the spectacle of the worldIII. Turin 1884: ‘A snippet of African life in the heart of European life’III.1 Arriving in third class, returning in first class: The Italian adventure of six AfricansIII. 2. Under the spotlightIII.3. The other side of the coin: Racism with a human faceIII.4. The Assabian ‘ruse’: Political controversy and imaginative satirical humour.PART TWOIV. Palermo 1892 and Milan 1894IV.1. Palermo 1892IV.2. Milan 1894V. Missionary exhibitions and ethno-exhibitionsV.1. La Civiltà Cattolica and the world of exhibitionsV.2. Nineteenth-century precedents and trends (1858–1906)V.3. Genoa 1892V.4. Turin 1898 and further developments in the Fascist eraVI. Show villagesVI.1. General aspectsVI.2. Between the Dinkas and the Wild West Show: Milan, Turin, and elsewhere, 1895–1906VI.3 Turin 1898 and beyondVII. Exhibitions and science: From villages to the anatomical theatreVII.1. The ‘anatomy of the Negro’: Comparatism and racismVII.2. Anatomical findings and real livesVII.3. Forms of racism: Spectacular exhibitions, public health, and medical scienceVIII. ‘Reverse explorations’ and ‘Geography books in action’: Exhibitions and colonial villages in early twentieth-century ItalyVIII.1. Turin 1902VIII.2. Milan 1906IX. From the fiftieth anniversary of Italian national unification to the wars (1911–1914) IX.1. Turin 1911IX.2. Genoa 1914X. Conclusion: Towards empire, racial laws, and the war (1920–1940)IllustrationsBibliography

Guido Abbattista is Professor of Modern History at the University of Trieste. He is a specialist in the cultural history of colonialism, imperialism and human diversity 18th-19th century. He published books on James Mill, Edmund Burke, Lord Bolingbroke, Anquetil-Duperron, abbé Raynal, the European view of China in the Enlightenment and living human ethno-exhibitions 18th-20th century.

• ContentsAbbreviationsNarratives about humans on exhibitionAcknowledgmentsEditorial noteIntroduction1. Words and things2. Historiography: Human exhibitions3. Historiography: The colonial experience4. Distribution5. A look at the present6. Ten years laterPART ONEI. From the beaches of the Red Sea to the banks of the River PoII. Exhibitions, colonies, othernessII.1. A long European story resulting from globalisationII. 2. The century of exhibitions: A world of shows and the spectacle of the worldIII. Turin 1884: ‘A snippet of African life in the heart of European life’III.1 Arriving in third class, returning in first class: The Italian adventure of six AfricansIII. 2. Under the spotlightIII.3. The other side of the coin: Racism with a human faceIII.4. The Assabian ‘ruse’: Political controversy and imaginative satirical humour.PART TWOIV. Palermo 1892 and Milan 1894IV.1. Palermo 1892IV.2. Milan 1894V. Missionary exhibitions and ethno-exhibitionsV.1. La Civiltà Cattolica and the world of exhibitionsV.2. Nineteenth-century precedents and trends (1858–1906)V.3. Genoa 1892V.4. Turin 1898 and further developments in the Fascist eraVI. Show villagesVI.1. General aspectsVI.2. Between the Dinkas and the Wild West Show: Milan, Turin, and elsewhere, 1895–1906VI.3 Turin 1898 and beyondVII. Exhibitions and science: From villages to the anatomical theatreVII.1. The ‘anatomy of the Negro’: Comparatism and racismVII.2. Anatomical findings and real livesVII.3. Forms of racism: Spectacular exhibitions, public health, and medical scienceVIII. ‘Reverse explorations’ and ‘Geography books in action’: Exhibitions and colonial villages in early twentieth-century ItalyVIII.1. Turin 1902VIII.2. Milan 1906IX. From the fiftieth anniversary of Italian national unification to the wars (1911–1914) IX.1. Turin 1911IX.2. Genoa 1914X. Conclusion: Towards empire, racial laws, and the war (1920–1940)IllustrationsBibliography

Guido Abbattista is Professor of Modern History at the University of Trieste. He is a specialist in the cultural history of colonialism, imperialism and human diversity 18th-19th century. He published books on James Mill, Edmund Burke, Lord Bolingbroke, Anquetil-Duperron, abbé Raynal, the European view of China in the Enlightenment and living human ethno-exhibitions 18th-20th century.

• ContentsAbbreviationsNarratives about humans on exhibitionAcknowledgmentsEditorial noteIntroduction1. Words and things2. Historiography: Human exhibitions3. Historiography: The colonial experience4. Distribution5. A look at the present6. Ten years laterPART ONEI. From the beaches of the Red Sea to the banks of the River PoII. Exhibitions, colonies, othernessII.1. A long European story resulting from globalisationII. 2. The century of exhibitions: A world of shows and the spectacle of the worldIII. Turin 1884: ‘A snippet of African life in the heart of European life’III.1 Arriving in third class, returning in first class: The Italian adventure of six AfricansIII. 2. Under the spotlightIII.3. The other side of the coin: Racism with a human faceIII.4. The Assabian ‘ruse’: Political controversy and imaginative satirical humour.PART TWOIV. Palermo 1892 and Milan 1894IV.1. Palermo 1892IV.2. Milan 1894V. Missionary exhibitions and ethno-exhibitionsV.1. La Civiltà Cattolica and the world of exhibitionsV.2. Nineteenth-century precedents and trends (1858–1906)V.3. Genoa 1892V.4. Turin 1898 and further developments in the Fascist eraVI. Show villagesVI.1. General aspectsVI.2. Between the Dinkas and the Wild West Show: Milan, Turin, and elsewhere, 1895–1906VI.3 Turin 1898 and beyondVII. Exhibitions and science: From villages to the anatomical theatreVII.1. The ‘anatomy of the Negro’: Comparatism and racismVII.2. Anatomical findings and real livesVII.3. Forms of racism: Spectacular exhibitions, public health, and medical scienceVIII. ‘Reverse explorations’ and ‘Geography books in action’: Exhibitions and colonial villages in early twentieth-century ItalyVIII.1. Turin 1902VIII.2. Milan 1906IX. From the fiftieth anniversary of Italian national unification to the wars (1911–1914) IX.1. Turin 1911IX.2. Genoa 1914X. Conclusion: Towards empire, racial laws, and the war (1920–1940)IllustrationsBibliography