Norway to restage 1914 'human zoo' that exhibited Africans as inmates

Artists claim recreating exhibition will help country confront its colonial past. Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire is not convinced

The

Kongolandsbyen zoo in

Oslo Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire Tuesday !" April !#$% As part of mammoth celebrations of the !##th anniversary of &orway's constitution( the government is funding two artists to re enact a )human zoo)( which will open to the public on $* May. Oslo's original human zoo or Kongolandsbyen was central to &orway's world fair in $"$%. The artists claim that the new pro+ect( which they named ,uropean Attraction -imited( is meant to provo.e a discussion on colonialism and racism in a post modern world( engaging with &orway's racist past in the process. /ome anti racism organisations and commentators have labelled the pro+ect offensive and racist. 0s there any artistic value in the re enactment of such a dehumanising spectacle( especially in a world not yet fully healed of racism1 0s this an abuse of art1 Or will the re enactment reverse the modest gains of the e2uality struggles( especially when the world engages with the sub+ect of race so superficially1

Object 1

3ootage from

Kongolandsbyen &orway's $"$% human zoo is not the most widely .nown historical fact in the country( or elsewhere. But( for five months( 4# people of African origin 5/enegalese6 lived in )the 7ongo village) in Oslo( surrounded by )indigenous African artefacts). More than half of the &orwegian population at the time paid to visit the exhibition and gawp at the )traditionally dressed Africans)( living in palm roof cabins and going about their daily routine of coo.ing( eating and ma.ing handicrafts. The .ing of &orway officiated at the opening of the exhibition.

The Kongolandsbyen zoo in Oslo( $"$%. 8hotograph9 Oslobilder

There were several human zoos or )colonial exhibitions) in Belgium( :ermany( 3rance( the ;/ and other western countries at the time( exhibiting Africans and other non western peoples. These helped to convince the ,uropean public opinion of the necessity of colonisation. ,xhibiting Africans as animals( uncivilised( primitive and animistic made it seem +ustifiable to colonise them. 0t was also a source of entertainment for the ,uropean of the time to see how )bac.ward) Africans were. 0ndeed after the &orwegian show( one &orwegian magazine( ;rd( concluded9 <0t's wonderful that we are white=.

The Kongolandsbyen zoo( Oslo. 0n Belgium( some of the !>? 7ongolese being exhibited died during the show and were unceremoniously buried in an anonymous common grave. The whole spectacle denied Africans their dignity. They were treated as animals. The zoos reinforced the self congratulatory mood prevalent in ,urope at the time( considering itself the most advanced society in the world and )othering) the rest. Artists Mohamed Ali 3adlabi and -ars 7uzner say that the ignorance around &orway's racist past inspired them to re create the human zoo for the !##th anniversary in May. They are said to have secured almost a million &orwegian .roner 5@""(###6 to implement the pro+ect. Aolunteers are invited from around the world to come and populate the human zoo( but are warned that they will have to defend their participation against a hostile response. The artists argue that the pro+ect is part of an honest conversation about race and &orway's unpleasant past. They held a conference in 3ebruary( in which they featured tal.s about systematic racism entitled The Terrible Beauty of Bindsight and The Origins of the Cegime of :oodness. They legitimately as.9 <Bow do we confront a neglected aspect of the past that still

contributes to our present1= Muau.e B Munfocol( who lives in &orway and is originally from DC7( thin.s that the pro+ect does not recognise the <racial order and systems of privilege in the country=. /he says9 <One might wonder why at such a time( rather than putting its efforts to ac.nowledge the existence of racism( paying reparations( and changing the historical political and cultural relationship to other non white countries( the &orwegian government chooses to finance a pro+ect that reaffirms their part in a global white domination system where blac. people are dehumanised spiritually( economically( socially and culturally.= Muau.e's argument is that the re enactment of the human zoo as exactly as how it was presented in $"$% means <a re enactment of the fantasies about exoticism and bestiality that have been historically lin.ed to the blac. body in the colonial mind=. The re enactment will be a living reality for her( as an African living in &orway. <Once again( the blac. body will be prepped( scripted and presented to a white gaze. Africans will once again be sub+ected to a humiliating and dehumanising racialised public spectacle. /lavery and colonialism was and still is a show(= she says. Muau.e is not alone in her indignation. Cune Berglund( head of &orway's Anti Cacism 7entre says9 <The only people who will li.e this are those with racist views. This is something children with African ancestry will hear about and will find degrading. 0 find it difficult to see how this pro+ect could be done in a dignified manner.= Africans are still dealing with attitudes that suggest an inability to solve their problems. 8olitical crises in Africa( for example( are treated by western media( civil society and governments as evidence of a primitive nature and the need for western intervention 5read9 civilisation6. The racial superiority complex of the ,uropean mind is not a thing of the past. 0t is a present thing. The &orwegian human zoo is thus not necessarily a mere re enactment of the past. 0t is real at many levels. 3adlabi's and 7uzner's goals may be noble but will their pro+ect lead to the type of conversations they claim they want it to be part of1 Or is it contributing towards the maintenance and resurgence of racist ideologies in the world1 Theirs is not the first <artistic product= in the last three years to present Africans on the same footing as animals. Eust a few wee.s ago( a Belgian newspaper printed a Fsatirical' article and photos that compared the ;/ president( Barrac. Obama( to an ape. The editors claimed that it was mere satire. 0n !#$!( a /wedish artist made a ca.e installation of a blac. woman being cut into( allegedly to provo.e discussions around female genital mutilation. A high ran.ing politician indeed cut into the blac. ca.e( with a human blac. painted screaming face. There was laughter and cheers. The discussion on female genital mutilation did not happen. 0f it did( it was too low .ey. The discussion turned onto the representation of blac. in a world claiming to be liberal. Art is not innocent. As G , B Du Bois wrote( all art is propaganda. 0n the ca.e and human zoo re enactment incidents( the artists do not deny that their art is not pure. They all lay claim to

)noble) causes. They want to create and participate in discussionsH discussions of race( oppression( colonialism and the ills of yesterday and today as systematic gender andIor racial oppression. /hould artists thin. more about the impact of their wor.( especially as regards the possible interpretations of the same wor.1 /hould governments funding such pro+ects thin. deeper about all the possible interpretations1 Ge are not in a post racial world. 3adlabi and 7uzner can't exonerate themselves because they mean well. 0ndeed( if they are serious about creating discussions of racism they ought to thin. deeper about the li.elihood that their pro+ect may entrench the same pre+udices they claim to fight. A longer version of this article first appeared on This is Africa