Conceptual boundaries

This chapter examines the shifting boundaries between humans and animals (Thomas 1983; Mullin 1999) through the lens of 19th-century ethnographic shows. These anthropological-zoological exhibitions, popular in Europe from the 1870s, staged non-European people as ‘exotic’, ‘savage’ or ‘primitive’ alongside animals, blurring categories of species, culture, and civilisation. Set against a colonial backdrop shaped by hunting, trophy displays (Ritvo 1987), and zoological gardens as public spectacles (Mullan and Marvin 1999), these shows offered audiences narratives about human–animal relations. They revealed not only methods of taming and putting animals to work, but also wider cultural assumptions about evolution, conquest, and interspecies proximity. By analysing these performances as ‘stage narratives’, the chapter highlights how conceptual boundaries were constructed, contested, and perceived differently. For some, the shows dramatised imperial domination; for others, they illustrated evolutionary hierarchies or emphasised close bonds between humans and animals. Ultimately, the analysis shows how ethnographic displays reflected diverse and shifting understandings of human–animal relations in a colonial and performative context.