In August 1882 the circus impresario P. T. Barnum called for examples of all the uncivilized races in existence.” In response, the showman R. A. Cunningham shipped two groups of Australian Aborigines to the United States. They were displayed as cannibals” in circuses, dime museums, fairgrounds, and other showplaces in America and Europe and examined and photographed by anthropologists.
Roslyn Poignant tells the fascinating and often searing story of the transformation of the Aboriginal travelers into accomplished performers, professional savages who survived at least for a short time by virtue of the strengths they drew from their own culture and their individual adaptability. Most died somewhere on tour. A century later, the mummified body of Tambo, the first to die, was discovered in the basement of a recently closed funeral home in Cleveland, Ohio. Poignant recounts how Tambo’s posthumous repatriation stimulated a cultural renewal within the community from which he came, exposing the roots of present social and economic injustices experienced by indigenous Australians.

Professional Savages: Captive Lives and Western Spectacle

Poignant, Roslyn

Humor & Entertainment

Yale University Press

In August 1882 the circus impresario P. T. Barnum called for examples of “all the uncivilized races in existence.” In response, the showman R. A. Cunningham shipped two groups of Australian Aborigines to the United States. They were displayed as “cannibals” in circuses, dime museums, fairgrounds, and other showplaces in America and Europe and examined and photographed by anthropologists. Roslyn Poignant tells the fascinating and often searing story of the transformation of the Aboriginal travelers into accomplished performers, professional savages who survived at least for a short time by virtue of the strengths they drew from their own culture and their individual adaptability. Most died somewhere on tour. A century later, the mummified body of Tambo, the first to die, was discovered in the basement of a recently closed funeral home in Cleveland, Ohio. Poignant recounts how Tambo’s posthumous repatriation stimulated a cultural renewal within the community from which he came, exposing the roots of present social and economic injustices experienced by indigenous Australians.

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Traces the discovery and exploration of the islands and continents of the South Pacific.

Discovery under the southern cross (International library)

F.Watts

Oceanic Mythology

Religion & Spirituality

Littlehampton Book Services Lt

Oceanic and Australasian Mythology (Library of the World's Myths and Legends)

Hamlyn

Oceanic Mythology The Myths of Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia

Oceanic Mythology: The Myths of Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia.

Literature & Fiction

Mythology & Folk Tales

Original Artworks Ltd

History

World

University Of NSW Press

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