The Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition, promoted by the Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro [National Museum of Rio de Janeiro] in 1882, was a scientific event that aimed to both popularise anthropological science among the public of the court of Dom Pedro II and to build a modern image of the nation. During the southern winter of 1882 a group of seven native Brazilians of the Botocudos1 people were the special attraction in Rio de Janeiro.
Around a month after the Botocudos returned from the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro to the Muttum settlement, the national press reported that some of the members from that group had been placed on a ship headed for Europe. From then on, a heated debate arose among the press of Dom Pedro II's court concerning what would come to be known as the ‘Botocudos issue’.2 The National Museum's Anthropological Exhibition inspired the Brazilian brothers Athanagildo and Cremilde Barata Ribeiro to promote their own Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition in London.
This article retraces the journey of the Botocudos, aiming to analyse the transformation of narratives and representations between the Museum's official exhibition in Brazil and its London and American versions,3 presenting the circumstances under which the exhibitions took place. The research emphasises the ambivalent trajectory between science and spectacle in these three different versions and formats of exhibitions, employing as central theme the analysis of the circulation of people, objects and narratives between the fields of museums and human zoos. The research relies on facts and documents until now unknown about this human display and builds a map that spans both scientific and popular entertainment fields. In short, it seeks to understand the strategies used to construct exoticism: the primitivist figurations that distinguish the exotic market.
In an attempt to give coherence to a variety of materials and sources consulted, such as archival documents, newspaper reports, illustrations and advertisements, this text articulates characters, voices and narratives on different stages and scenes. The research seeks to understand the construction of Indigenous representation in the artistic, scientific and entertainment fields. This is not a classical ethnology research, concerned with describing what the Botocudos are. It is a work that explains how Indigenous people became exotic themes in urban, modern, and Western shows. Throughout the nineteenth century, human zoos were a format of mass entertainment which featured re-enactments of an exotic way of living. The troupes that featured in such exhibitions travelled to a great number of cities and performed in a variety of venues such as circuses, theatres, fairs and zoos (Ames 2008; Thode-Arora 1989).
The London version of the Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition was inaugurated on Monday, 28 May 1883, at the popular entertainment venue Piccadilly Hall. The five Botocudos who had left Brazil in November of the previous year arrived in London in the ice-cold January, when they became topics of conversation and curiosity in the British Parliament, following a brief stay in the French city of Le Havre.
After his arrival in England, it took four months for Cremilde Barata Ribeiro, the person responsible for this undertaking, to open the exhibition. During the months leading up to the exhibition, the Botocudos stayed in London, accompanied by Cremilde Barata Ribeiro and his English wife, Elizabeth Hughes. His brother Athanagildo Barata Ribeiro, who had remained in Brazil, wrote a series of letters defending Cremilde's venture, while Brazilian newspapers accused them of ‘exploiting Botocudos as circus attractions’ (Vieira 2019a).
Despite her British origin, Hughes is never mentioned by the English newspapers. Meanwhile her husband assumed the alias ‘Signor Ribeiro’, frequently being described as ‘a celebrated explorer’ (Sheffield Independent. . . , 3 August 1883), ‘the first to enter Botocudos land’ (Sheffield daily. . . , 4 August 1883). If to the public of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro the Botocudos troupe, despite being tutored by the State, were described as savages and as being from isolated tribes to the English public and in the writings of the local newspapers, the Botocudos were presented as a ‘hitherto unknown’ tribe (Sheffield Daily. . . , 4 August 1883) and Signor Ribeiro as having been a fearless explorer of their lands.
The Barata Ribeiro brothers were entrepreneurs. In 1880 Cremilde and Athanagildo opened a company registered as a shipyard for construction and naval services. Athanagildo was a retired lieutenant in the Brazilian navy and described his brother Cremilde as ‘an honourable man . . . a capitalist and member of the firm Barata Ribeiro & C.’ (Jornal do Commercio. . . , 10 December 1882). By calling himself ‘Signor Ribeiro’,4 Cremilde seems to be in search of titles, since in fact he was neither a scholar nor an explorer.
From the end of May, advertisements began to run in English newspapers announcing the ‘Anthropological Exhibition of the Botocudos Tribe’ or the ‘Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition’ at Piccadilly Hall. The Botocudos performed twice daily, every day of the week, from 13:00 to 17:00 and from 19:00 to 21:00 (The Globe . . . , 30 May 1883). The exhibition designed by Barata Ribeiro aimed to attract both aristocrats and workers, remaining on display for over two months in London, then heading to Sheffield and Manchester.
The Botocudos’ daily performances included singing, dancing, and playing the flute. They also demonstrated their considerable skills in using the bow and arrow. Alongside the performances there was an exhibition of objects supposedly gathered by the ‘explorer Signor Ribeiro’, which comprised the collection of the so-called Museum of South American Curiosities.5 The presentations were preceded by lectures given by Signor Ribeiro, which lent the exhibitions a scientific character. Ribeiro frequently described himself in newspapers ‘not as a showman, but as a commercial colonizer’ (Weekly. . . . , 2 June 1883). Irrespective of what being a commercial coloniser6 meant, Cremilde seemed to want to win over the Brazilian public, making it clear that he was avowedly not a showman, but rather someone interested in promoting immigration to Brazil, as argued by his brother Athanagildo in Brazilian newspapers.
The Botocudos were exhibited within a broader tradition of exoticisation and freak shows to which the English public was long accustomed (Altick 1978). In January 1883 they were exhibited at Piccadilly7 Hall, in the same venue as the native Brazilians, ‘the largest and smallest people in the world’ (Morning. . . . , 4 January 1883), a Chinese ‘giant’ named Chang and a couple of ‘American midgets’.
Newspapers, whether those with sensationalist articles or those presenting a more scientific tone, emphasised the body as a marker of difference. The wooden disc and the preponderance of the lips, the vestments or lack of them marked the exoticisation and eroticisation of the Indigenous body. As stated by Hinsley in the context of world fairs and colonial exhibitions ‘the exotic and forbidden erotic merge as commodity’ (1991: 354).
The wooden disc as a labial stretcher places the Botocudos’ performances on a fine line between the ethnographic exotic and freak shows. For instance, an advertisement in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph stated that ‘The Botocudos are the most Primitive People in the World, and most extraordinary in appearance. The Lips of the Females stand out from the face five to six inches!’ (Sheffield Daily. . . , 9 August 1883). In some publications, nudity was declared their natural state, creating an expectation in the reader that the troupe would perform naked: ‘In their native state the Botocudos are perfectly nude. The girls become marriageable at the age of 12 and many of them are somewhat pleasing in appearance’ (Morning . . . , 21 June 1883). For the Victorian public of that time, exotic bodies were as close as you could get to erotic shows. Erotic imaginations were stirred up with the mentions of nudity and polygamy.8 Although in England the Botocudos were presented dressed, the performance itself suggested nudity through its simulation, insofar as the men wore ‘close-fitting jerseys of a hue similar to that of their skin’ (Sheffield Daily. . . , 4 August 1883).
The public were also given the opportunity to touch the performers: ‘The Indians are unable to converse with the visitors, they . . . good humouredly submit to a close inspection by the audience’ (Manchester Times . . . , 25 August 1883). Any questions had to be addressed to Cremilde Barata Ribeiro and answered by him, since the Botocudos spoke a ‘somewhat limited . . . dialect of about 300 words’ (Sheffield Daily. . . , 4 August 1883). The exception was a catechised woman, capable of speaking Portuguese. Next the reporter implied that catechesis would be the fact responsible for her ‘beautiful’ and ‘superior’ features, compared to the other Indigenous women who used wooden discs.
The London exhibition poster (Figure 1) shows four of the five people, who were generically called Botocudos. A male is in the centre of the frame, wearing a belt with dangling feathers and feather adornments on his arms and back. Bow and arrow in his hand and looking intently at his next probable prey hiding in the vegetation. Around him, thick foliage, representing the forest. Below him one can read the title ‘Anthropological Exhibition: Botocudos Tribe’ and the performance schedules. At the top of the poster the location of the presentations is stated, Piccadilly Hall, and below one can find the bust of three Botocudos, two adult women and a young man, painted showing a bare chest, overlaid in an oval frame against a background of green leaves. Respectively from left to right, the following is written over their heads: ‘daughter, mother and son’, implying that the male Botocudo in the centre would be the father. The ‘daughter’ glances to her left, but both the ‘mother’ and the ‘son’ gaze at the viewer.
Poster of the Botocudos’ Exhibition, entitled Piccadilly Hall: Anthropological exhibition, 1883. Unknown author. Printed by Willing & Co. Kings Cross. Source: Online catalogue of the Evanion Collection, British Library.
Citation: Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 31, 2; 10.3167/ajec.2022.310203
Creating the illusion of a family and the integration between Botocudos and nature, the poster is the first image that grabs the audience's attention, a contrast having been created between the black and white letters, and the brown skin, green foliage and yellow adornments. With realistic pretensions, the lines follow the tradition of a descriptive illustration. It is possible that the individuals bore similarities to their portraits. The Botocudo woman who did not have a wooden lip disc was deliberately removed from the image, which demonstrates the importance of the lip enlargement to the exhibition's success. In the event's official advertising, nudity is again suggested: although the Indigenous women's breasts are not shown in the bust illustrations, the image implies that the continuation of the naked bust would be the naked body, if the viewer could see more than is shown in the frame.
An article was published on the first page of an illustrated London newspaper (Illustrated . . . , 9 June 1883) dedicated to the Botocudos and showing an image sequence depicting four scenes (Figure 2). The first shows two individuals sitting in front of a hut in the middle of the forest, a shaman with his tipi and a tree branch healing the other person with the caption below: ‘Doctor and Patient’. The second scene features a hut with a forest in the background and some objects in the foreground. The third is an illustration of the five Botocudos. The caption announces: ‘The Botocudos Tribe of Indians at Piccadilly Hall’. All five are portrayed dressed in Western clothing. The women can be seen in the background, sitting on a bench, two of them with wooden lip discs and dressed in short-sleeved shirts and long skirts, and the third wearing a long-sleeved shirt and skirt, with the following textual descriptions integrated into the image: ‘The eldest daughter; the mother; the youngest daughter (civilised)’. Two of them seem to look at the portraitist, the eldest and the one described as catechised. In the foreground, at the foot of the bench where the women are seated, are the two men, portrayed from the chest up, dressed in long-sleeved shirts. The younger man is portrayed sideways with his head down and the older faces the portraitist. The textual description integrated into the image proclaims the younger man as son and the older as father. The last picture represents the objects of the ‘Museum of Curiosities of South America’, supposedly collected by Barata Ribeiro.
Image sequence portrays the five Botocudos exhibited in London. Unknown author. Source: Illustrated . . . , 9 June 1883.
Citation: Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 31, 2; 10.3167/ajec.2022.310203
Despite the differences in the illustrator's drawings when one compares the poster and the image sequence in the newspaper, some similarities exist between the physical characteristics of the subjects portrayed, especially with regard to their ages. These documents, when confronted with the photos taken by Joaquim Ayres from the Indigenous persons presented at National Museum in 1882 (Vieira 2019b), raise the question of whether they were in fact the same Botocudos put on display by the National Museum. It is likely they were not the same individuals, but they were the same social subjects, they presented the same role and were invited to continue a figuration and narrative conceived by the Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition of 1882 at the National Museum, taking into account that the newspapers of the time pointed out that ‘some of the Indians’ sent to London were the same ones on display in Rio de Janeiro.
The Special Meeting of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland at Piccadilly Hall
The Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition in London earned scientific legitimacy when Cremilde Barata Ribeiro invited scientists from the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland9 to survey the exhibition in the days following its inauguration. Prof. W. H. Flower, president of the institute, inspected the troupe and the objects in the collection accompanied by vice presidents and other members of the council. It seems that the anthropologists came away impressed by their first visit to Barata Ribeiro's exhibition of five Botocudos and the value of the objects he had collected. The interest was so great that they accepted, ‘by invitation of Mr. Ribeiro’, that a ‘special extra meeting’ (Report . . . , 1884) of said institute be held at Piccadilly Hall. It is noteworthy that, during 1883, the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland held thirteen ordinary meetings, and only two extra meetings: the one whose object of interest was the Botocudos and the second, to commemorate the foundation anniversary of the institute itself (Report . . . , 1884). The meeting's minutes state that ‘Mr. Hyde Clarke addressed Mr. Ribeiro in Portuguese and conveyed to him the thanks of the Institute for the permission to examine a collection truly anthropological in its character’ (Report . . . , 1884).
On the evening of Tuesday, 19 June 1883, at 21:00, after the two daily presentations at Piccadilly Hall by the Botocudos, the special extra meeting of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland was opened. Public and scientific in nature, the event was announced in advance by the newspapers. At that time, in addition to the anthropometric inspections conducted by Flowers, a member of the institute's council, A. H. Keane,10 presented and read a descriptive paper about the Botocudos. A version of this paper was published the following year by the institute's journal, the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (Keane 1884). Keane gathered information obtained by other researchers, such as Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied, Von Martius and d'Orbnigny, starting his description based on geographical data, termed by him as ‘habitat’, and then dwelling on the use of wooden lip discs or tembeiterá. According to his account:
The disc worn by one of the women of Mr. Ribeiro's company is 2.5 inches in diameter, as measured by Professor Flower, and cases are mentioned of 3 inches and upwards. Ear-plugs of great size are also worn, distending the lobe down to the shoulders like great leathern bat's wings. (Keane 1884: 2)
The fact that only two of the women had the wooden lip disc and that only one of these had a fully developed disc and ear plug is noted by the author as an indication that the practice was ‘dying out even among the Bravos, or the wild tribes’ (Keane 1884: 2). Keane describes one of the probable highlights of the Botocudos’ daily exhibitions, as the moment when the wooden disc is removed: ‘It is removable at pleasure, as I am able to certify through the complaisance of the woman of this company so adorned, and then the lip hangs limp, exposing the teeth, which, by the continual pressure and friction, often became displaced or deformed’ (Keane 1884: 4).
The event promoted by the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland attests to the authenticity ‘of a truly anthropological character’ of both the Botocudos and the objects gathered by Barata Ribeiro. Keane continuously makes comparisons between the available bibliography on the Botocudos and ‘the specimens exhibited in London’, admitting to having initially been suspicious of one of the natives, but that Mr. Ribeiro had assured him that she was a ‘pureblood’. Keane then mentions that Wied-Neuwied had written about the Botocudos’ great diversity of physical characteristics, showing himself convinced of the authenticity of the Botocudos brought by Barata Ribeiro (Keane 1884: 5).
One of the women, in fact, was so animated, and of such a light complexion, that I felt strongly inclined to regard her as a half-caste until assured by Mr. Ribeiro that she was really a full-blood native, though brought up in a missionary's home, which may partly account for her ‘brio’ and lively temperament. (Keane 1884: 5)
As of August 1883, when the exhibition arrived in the city of Sheffield, a series of advertisements were published stating that the Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition was sponsored by the Brazilian royal family and Emperor Dom Pedro II, in addition to citing the fact that it had been endorsed by the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. This can be seen in the following ad, published by the Sheffield Independent newspaper, of 3 August 1883:
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING
CUTLER'S HALL
THE ROYAL EXHIBITION OF BOTOCUDOS INDIANS AND
MUSEUM OF SOUTH AMERICAN CURIOSITIES
(From Piccadilly Hall, London).
Patronised by the Royal Family, Dom Pedro, the Emperor of the Brazils [sic], and the elite of Society.
Endorsed by the Anthropological Society and the London Press as being one of the Most Marvellous and interesting Exhibitions in the World.
Advertisement of the Botocudos exhibition as sponsored by the Brazilian emperor and royal family. Unknown author. Source: Sheffield Independent . . . , 3 August 1883.
Citation: Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 31, 2; 10.3167/ajec.2022.310203
Being in possession of the few existing documents about this event in England, we cannot state whether the National Museum officially endorsed the Botocudos performances in Britain. However, it can be said that, narratively, in the fiction Cremilde Barata Ribeiro writes about himself as an explorer and the first to set foot in the Botocudos’ territory, he employs the symbolic resources of the National Museum and the imperial family to legitimise his exhibition.
The Chance Meeting with P.T. Barnum
During the exhibition's first weeks in London, all cities to be visited by the Botocudos’ tour had yet to be defined. In early June, Barata Ribeiro informed an Irish newspaper that he was thinking of going to Dublin, without, however, specifying which dates (Weekly. . . , 2 June 1883). Following about two months of performances in London, they performed from 2 to 18 August in Sheffield, and from 21 August to 3 September in Manchester, but the tour never reached Dublin. Barata Ribeiro's plans were altered when he met Phineas T. Barnum, a prominent American circus entrepreneur and showman, who had been planning the Great Ethnological Congress for years, a show which would bring together all the ‘strange savage tribes’ (Courier. . . , 1884) in the world.
On board the steamboat of the Inman company, the five Botocudos sailed from the port of Liverpool bound for the United States, accompanied by P.T. Barnum in person and an interpreter, probably Cremilde Barata Ribeiro, who went from ‘commercial colonizer’ to translator, interpreting into English what the ‘catechized Indian woman’ translated from the Krenak language into Portuguese.
As a way of keeping things under wraps while at the same advertising the Botocudos, when they were arriving in the United States, entering via the city of Richmond's port, the women with wooden discs ‘kept their faces carefully covered up with shawls while on the steam-ship’, since, according to a reporter's account, ‘The first sight of these women has the peculiar effect of causing the casual spectator to shudder’ (Boston . . . , 10 Oct. 1883). The Botocudos’ main characteristic, according to the same source, was the wooden lip disc, the three persons who ‘do not disfigure their lips’ being equal to ‘ordinary Indians who leave the savage state for civilization in the way of business’. Shortly after their arrival, the Botocudos were taken to perform in Pittsburgh, and a reporter stated with irony that during the time until the inauguration of the Barnum Ethnological Congress, the Botocudos would tour dime museums studying the Americans:
In order that they may not waste the time which must elapse before the meeting of the ‘congress’ they will pass the winter in studying the characteristics of the American people from the platforms of the principal dime museums. They will appear in Pittsburgh to-morrow. The delegates of several of the savage tribes are already in this country. The Zulus, Nubians, and New-Zealand cannibals are now traveling around the United States, and the Hottentot, Malay, and Bushmen representatives will soon arrive. The island of Borneo will be represented by the famous wild man. The representatives will appear at the ‘congress’ in their native costumes. (Terre. . . , 14 October 1883)
After weeks of travelling by boat, once again crossing the waters of the Atlantic and propelled by the cold autumn winds of the northern hemisphere, they arrived in Richmond on 6 October 1883. Without rest, the five Botocudos were incorporated into Barnum's shows. In the ensuing weeks, one of the women died in Pittsburgh, suffering from pneumonia and typhoid fever. Four Botocudos mourned in her name: Nahen.
It is only because of her death that we learn of her name, written with two different spellings.11 It was reported as follows in the obituaries of The New York Times of 20 October 1883:
DEATH OF A BRAZILIAN INDIAN.
PITTSBURG, Penn., 19 Oct. – Nahen A. Botocudo, a Brazilian Indian woman, who arrived in this country on 6 Oct. and who has been on exhibition in a museum here, died of typhoid pneumonia to-day. A copy of the death certificate was made out by the Board of Health and will be sent to Brazil. (The New York, 20 October 1883)
Obituary announcing Nahen's death. Unknown author. Source: Terre Haute. . . , 14 Oct. 1883.
Citation: Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 31, 2; 10.3167/ajec.2022.310203
The newspaper The Terre Haute Daily Wabash Express, of 20 October 1883, published practically the same news story as The New York Times, under the title ‘A Museum Attraction Dead’, mentioning her name as Nachne A. Botocudo.
It is highly likely that Nahen's remains were never returned to her native land, on the banks of the Rio Doce. As Barnum was primarily a businessman and because of the value of Botocudos’ skeletons and skulls throughout the nineteenth century, I suppose that Nahen's remains were sold to a museum or university in the United States or Europe.
Phineas Barnum, who often dealt with death, used to profit even on those occasions. This is, for instance, the case of Joice Heth's autopsy, a black woman exhibited by him. Even before her death, Barnum had already made arrangements to perform her autopsy as a theatre show (Reiss 1999). Another case in which Barnum had plans for the postmortem fate of one of his attractions while it was still alive was that of the elephant Jumbo (McClellan 2012).
P.T. Barnum's ‘Grand Ethnological Congress’
Between October 1883 and April 1884, the Botocudos were exhibited in dime museums,12 alongside attractions such as the bearded woman, the man without limbs, dwarves and a man described as ‘the living skeleton’. In April 1884, the Barnum Circus’ Ethnological Congress inaugurated its tour, putting into effect a plan long awaited by Barnum, whose intention was to reunite all the ‘savage races’ of the world in one big show. The Ethnological Congress took years of planning, among them three years just to assemble the attractions, in pursuit of which there were ‘agents in all portions of the world engaging curiosities’ (Terre. . . , 14 October 1883).
For the price of just one ticket, the spectator had access to three circus rings holding simultaneous attractions, among them the Botocudos and the elephant Jumbo. Conceived as a special edition of The Greatest Show on Earth, named after the presentations given by the Barnum and Bailey Circus, the Ethnological Congress represented an ambitious project that highlighted circuses’ importance to the burgeoning American mass culture. Thus, fulfilling his desire for ever bigger shows, Barnum was able to expand his audience, who nevertheless had to get used to the idea that they wouldn't be able to see all the show's attractions with one glance.
at most times not only one but two, and sometimes three set of performances are going on simultaneously in the ring and on the stage. Therefore, more quickly than ever before, one gives up the idea of seeing anything like the whole show at a single attempt, however favorable may be his sitting; but if he does not get his money's worth at a single visit it is because he is a glutton. (Fitchburg. . . , 23 June 1884)
To fulfil the desires of an audience eager for attractions, the circus presented one hundred different ethnic groups at the Barnum's Ethnological Congress, in addition to two stalls with a collection of animals, circus numbers, acrobats and the ‘museum of living curiosities’, with Barnum Circus’ traditional freak shows. During his visit to London in 1883, P.T. Barnum recruited not only the Botocudos but also other attractions that had performed at Piccadilly Hall that year. The famous Barnum Circus was also the destination of Chang, the ‘colossus’, a Chinese giant who, according to the circus advertisements, measured almost 9 feet, about 2.70 metres tall. Barnum Circus stood out from its competition also in the advertising area. Grandeur, size and quantity characterised the advertisements, symbolising what Walter Benjamin defined as the correlation between the capitalist advertisement, the cosmic and Grandville, the modern city of the late nineteenth century. ‘The advertisement is the ruse by which the dream forces itself on industry’ (Benjamin 1999: 171).
Cover of the journal and programme of the Courier show: P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth. Source: Connecticut Digital Archive.
Citation: Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 31, 2; 10.3167/ajec.2022.310203
According to the description given in the circus programme, published in booklet format, the Barnum's Ethnological Congress was a ‘Universal Exhibition of Savage Tribes’, the only one of its kind, never before undertaken by the private sector or even by nations.
According to the show's programme, no other company in the world would be able to bear the enormous expenses involved in the gigantic undertaking, since the ‘history of the obstacles overcome, the explorations made, the dangers faced, the strategy employed in capturing these treacherous and suspicious creatures, would make the most fascinating story of the wild adventure and hair-breadth escapes ever written’ (Courier. . . , 1884). Special expeditions organised by circus agents were said to have penetrated ‘the remotest savage jungles, forests, wilds, mountains, seas and deserts, where a white man never trod before’ (Courier. . . , 1884). The agents on these ‘dangerous’ and long journeys would often have returned empty-handed. But the money was ‘the open sesame’ through which ‘Potentates, petty rulers, rapacious officials, bandits and adventurers, almost without number, have been bribed, bought and conciliated’ (Courier. . . , 1884). The Barnum's expeditions were also conceived as a Christian mission, in which the most fanatical hatred of Christianity would have been deftly tackled and overcome.
Just like Nahen, many members of the various troupes died while travelling and also during the touring season. Hence, the circus was made to sign documents attesting the obligation to return the bodies in cases of death.
Agreements with the consuls of almost every nation have been required, and heavy bonds exacted from us to return the people obtained, either alive or dead, within a specified time. In triumph's dawning hour, death itself has, time and again, stepped in to rob us of our hard-earned victories. Many of the rarest savage representatives have reached these shores but to die, and fresh expeditions had to be again started to replace them. Our agents have been instructed to purchase success at any cost, and have heroically responded. Nothing has daunted or stopped them. They have done all that it is in the power of human nature to achieve or suffer. (Courier. . . , 1884)
Despite having signed documents promising to return ‘the rare savage representatives’ (Courier. . . , 1884), history itself shows that the word of P.T. Barnum could not always be relied upon. Apart from being the person who uttered the slogan ‘There's a sucker born every minute’, he did not keep his word in the Jumbo case in relation to the Smithsonian Museum, as well as having offered Jumbo to other buyers, in addition to the three museums with whom he had agreements, but the fourth and fifth proposals were of no interest to him (McClellan 2012). Finally, what was stated in the programme, published in the form of a newspaper booklet containing the circus performance announcements, was more promotional in nature than a real commitment to returning the remains of the people on display.
In mid-1884, the Botocudos returned to Brazil while the Ethnological Congress was still touring. In the meantime, another two of Nahen's companions had passed away, the journey back to Brazil being made by only two of the five Botocudos who had left the Muttum settlement in November 1882.
Conclusion: Variations of an Anthropological Show
Indigenous populations are increasingly using contemporary museums through a system of self-management and self-representation, in which exhibitions are produced and designed either by Indigenous people or in dialogue with them. In correlation to this phenomenon, there is also the opening of indigenous museums, created directly by the communities themselves as an instrument for social memory construction (Oliveira, 2012). These forms of representation take place according to a different paradigm from the one in which human zoos and anthropological exhibitions took place.
The Brazilian Anthropological Exhibition held by the National Museum aimed to popularise the anthropological research developed at that institution. Particularly, the presentation of the ‘Botocudos family’ served as the attraction that allowed the museum to dialogue with a wider audience, replicating in Brazil the popular ‘ethnographic shows’, highly in vogue in Europe and North America. The London exhibition, in turn, despite claiming purposes such as promoting the migration of settlers to Brazil and demonstrating that the Botocudos could become civilised, aimed at selling tickets and lining the pockets of Cremilde Barata Ribeiro, who had spied a business opportunity in the exotic narrative of the Brazilian anthropological science. By pronouncing himself an explorer and man of science, as well as promoting the special extra meeting of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland at Piccadilly Hall, Barata Ribeiro invested in the profitability of scientifically legitimised ethnographic shows, that is, which attested to the authenticity of the exhibited peoples.
Designed to attract an audience that ranged from dilettantes and scientists to onlookers and children, Barata Ribeiro defined his audience in an ad: ‘The Exhibition will be found most interesting to the scientific, religious, and thinking community, and most curious to sightseers’ (Sheffield Daily. . . , 3 August 1883). Announced as an ‘Immense success, crowded receptions, every afternoon and evening to see the Botocudos Indians’ (Sheffield Independent. . . , 6 August 1883), having attracted an audience of ‘1,200 visitors in one day to see the wonderful savages’ (Sheffield Daily. . . , 6 August 1883).
The entanglement between science and spectacle13 pervaded the entire trajectory travelled by the Botocudos troupe, from the exhibition at the court of Dom Pedro II, passing through London and ending up at the Barnum Circus’ shows. But the way this binomial is triggered varies. At the National Museum, science turned into a spectacle. At the exhibitions in London and the United States, the show resorted to scientific discourse. P.T. Barnum's Ethnological Congress sought to raise his circus to a level of credibility by associating himself with the scientific discourse, referring to it [the Ethnological Congress] as ‘a noble medium’ that would combine ‘education and interest’, with a vast benefit, ‘self-apparent to every enlightened’ (Courier. . . , 1884). Bluford Adams (1996) considers that Barnum's Ethnological Congress differs from other shows hitherto developed by the North American entrepreneur, in an attempt to work towards scientific empiricism and prominence. In the show's programme, Barnum states: ‘We have accomplished a great, unparalleled and signal work in the interests of science, Christianity and civilization, and honorably earned a nation's thanks, and a world's appreciation’ (Courier. . . , 1884).
With the aim of arousing ‘interest, education and perplexity’, the Ethnological Congress, ‘at least by this generation, and one look at them [the shows] will convey a more satisfactory, correct and ineffaceable lesson of its kind than all the books of travel that have ever been written’ (Courier. . . , 1884). One ad goes on to state that ‘as more can be learned in one hour within its tents than by months of study’ (Yates. . . , 5 August 1885), and another defines the circus as a ‘Kindergarten of Universal Knowledge, Instruction and Amusement’ (Indiana. . . , 1 October 1885).
If the National Museum's exhibition was described by the newspapers of the time as a ‘science festival’, the exhibitions promoted by Barata Ribeiro in London fostered ambiguity between the popular ‘freak shows’ and the scientific investigations of the renowned Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Barata Ribeiro's continued efforts to be deemed ‘not as a showman’ during his stay in England became irrelevant when his troupe of five Botocudos began to perform with one of the greatest showmen in the world, at Barnum Circus: ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’.
The meaning ascribed to any exhibition is as variable as the number of people who are willing to interpret it. Even so, the medium, the language and the narrative structure the viewer's gaze, assigning a meaning envisioned by those who conceive it. In the most basic anthropological sense, the Botocudos always played the role of the ‘other’ in all the exhibitions they were in, whether in Brazil, England or the United States. But the meaning attributed to this ‘other’ is variable. For the court of Dom Pedro II, the Botocudos were a disappearing ‘race’, measured, understood and, therefore, controlled by a modern science, capable of pointing to a future in which Brazilians could detach themselves from their ‘atavistic roots’. The London exhibition promoted by Barata Ribeiro is open to other interpretations: The ‘other’ was subject to neither law nor parliament, attributing to the English the rank of the most advanced civilisation on the evolutionary scale. The London exhibition was certainly seen by the wider public as an exotic and also erotic freak show, as was inferred in the recurring themes of nudity and wooden lip disc enlargement.
While the National Museum distinguished itself as a scientific institution that employed the most modern museum narratives at the time, the London exhibition bore more similarity to freak and variety shows, while the Barnum Ethnological Congress was an intense and sensational show in a circus, which, although intending to be instructive, was always mentioned in quotes by the American newspapers: Barnum's ‘congress’ (Terre. . . , 14 October 1883; Philadelphia. . . , 22 Apr. 1884). The meanings attributed to the Botocudos’ presentations changed during the time that they participated in a variety of exhibition formats over the course of approximately two years. From the National Museum, then through the London exhibitions organised by Barata Ribeiro, ending up at dime museums and the Barnum Circus.
The article presents the ambiguities between the commercial and scientific purposes of ethnographic exhibitions, thus demonstrating how the public and commercial face of anthropology intertwined with its scientific pretensions at a time when these divisions and borders were not so well established.14 The journey in which the Botocudos were ambiguously presented as scientific curiosities at the National Museum, develops in an ascendent trajectory towards an increasingly circus and freak show performance, throughout the exhibitions in London and the United States. The entertainment and commercial aims overtook the initial scientific and anthropological direction of the exhibitions.
Notes
Botocudos is a generalist term that encompasses the Krenak-speaking ethnic group (Macro-Jê linguistic trunk), which occupied the lands of southern Bahia, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo (Brazilian states). Pejoratively named as Botocudos, because of the ‘botoque’ (wooden plug lip enlarger), they were referred to as Aimoré at the beginning of the Portuguese colonisation process, being mostly referred to as Botocudos in the nineteenth century. The various groups called Botocudos differed from each other, calling themselves Giropok, Nak-Nanuk, Araña, Bakuên, Nakrehé, Pojitxá, Gutkrak, Etwe and Mina-Jirum (Krenak 2009; Mattos 2002; Paraíso 1992).
For those willing to know more about the National Museum Exhibition, see Vieira (2019a).
When using the term version, I intend to emphasise the importance of the 1882 National Museum exhibition to the later London and American exhibitions, since the Barata Ribeiro brothers tried to adapt and create their own vision of the Botocudos display, reproducing the narratives and theme from the National Museum.
It is important to note that the expression ‘Signor Ribeiro’ is in Italian, not Portuguese, that denotes his attempt to acquire status.
Museum of South American Curiosities was the itinerant collection that was part of the Botocudos exhibition but was called ‘museum’ for advertising purposes.
The documents consulted demonstrate that the Barata Ribeiros used the issue of immigration and colonisation as a discursive matter to develop a better relation with the Brazilian public. In fact they had no colonisation policy to the Brazilian hinterland [Sertões], and exhibiting Indigenous people was only a fleeting business for them.
Piccadilly Street in London's West End, where was located the Piccadilly Hall, was since the beginning of the nineteenth century a popular entertainment area, with theatres, concert halls, circuses, and pubs. For more information about the street and its surroundings during the nineteenth century, see Pearce (2007), Watt (1898) and Wheatley (2010).
As modern mass events, universal exhibitions were also spaces for the production and exhibition of gender relations. For further discussions on how gender forms the basis of universal and colonial exhibitions, see Boisseau and Markwyn 2010. In her analysis of the 1934 Portuguese Colonial Exhibition, Morais (2010) draws attention to the hypersexualised visual representations of African women, highlighting the relationships between race, colonialism and eroticism. In the context of the same exhibition, Matos (2014) describes how some female visitors became enthralled with the bodies of the African men.
The Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland was founded in 1871. It was only in 1907 that the institute was named the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, RAI.
Prof. Dr. Augustus Henry Keane was one of the writers who made the greatest effort to popularise anthropology, writing an astounding number of articles for scientific journals, newspapers, and encyclopedias. He claimed to have written more than 110 academic articles, contributing to the popularisation of the notion of race from a monogenic evolutionary conception (Lorimer 1997).
The sources also refer to her as Nachne.
Dime museums were popular forms of entertainment directed to working class in the late nineteenth century.
Science and spectacle or education and entertainment was a common binomial of the exhibitions. As stated by Matos (2013), while fairs had mainly a commercial purpose, great exhibitions sought to become associated with scientific congresses and to have an educational and pedagogical component, often linked to museums, universities or scientific societies.
Limeira-DaSilva and Sánchez-Arteaga (2021) present interesting reflections on how Alfred Russel Wallace's exhibition of casts of Botocudos at the Crystal Palace in 1854 was important for Wallace's scientific recognition.
Archive Materials
Boston . . . Boston Daily Globe, 10 Oct. 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Courier (1884), Courier: P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth, 28 Aug, Connecticut Digital Archive (Connecticut: University of Connecticut Libraries).
Fitchburg . . . Fitchburg Sentinel, 23 June 1884, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Illustrated . . . Illustrated Police News, 9 June 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Indiana . . . Indiana Democrat, 1 Oct. 1885, Newspapers Archive (online: Ancestry).
Jornal . . . Jornal do Commercio, 10 December 1882, Hemeroteca da Biblioteca Nacional (Rio de Janeiro: Biblioteca Nacional).
Manchester . . . Manchester Times, 25 Aug. 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Morning . . . Morning Post, 21 June 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Morning . . . Morning Post, 4 Jan. 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Philadelphia . . . Philadelphia Times, 22 Apr. 1884, Newspapers Archive (online: Ancestry).
Poster of the Botocudos’ Exhibition. Tittle: Piccadilly Hall. Anthropological exhibition, 1883. Unknown author. Printed by Willing & Co. Kings Cross. Source: Online catalogue of the Evanion Collection, British Library.
Report (1884), Report of the Council of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland for 1883, Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 13, no. 2: 484–487.
Sheffield Daily . . . Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 4 Aug. 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Sheffield Daily . . . Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 6 Aug. 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Sheffield Daily . . . Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 9 Aug. 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Sheffield Independent . . . Sheffield Independent, 2 Aug. 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Sheffield Independent . . . Sheffield Independent, 3 Aug. 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Terre . . . Terre Haute Daily Wabash Express, 14 Oct. 1883, Newspapers Archive (online: Ancestry).
The Globe . . . The Globe, 30 May 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
The New York . . . The New York Times, 20 Oct. 1883, Newspapers Archive (online: Ancestry).
Weekly . . . Weekly Irish Times, 2 June 1883, British Newspaper Archive (London: British Library).
Yates . . . Yates County Chronicle, 5 Aug. 1885, Newspapers Archive (online: Ancestry).
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