Black Bodies at the Pavilion of the Spanish Guinea during the Exposición Iberoamericana of Seville

Dublin Core

Title

Black Bodies at the Pavilion of the Spanish Guinea during the Exposición Iberoamericana of Seville

Subject

Exposición Iberomamericana

Description

At the Exposición Iberoamericana of 1929 in Seville, the Pavilion of Spanish Guinea prominently featured displays of Black bodies as part of its exhibition. This practice was consistent with the colonial exhibitions of the era, where indigenous people from the colonies were often showcased to highlight the supposed civilizing missions of European powers. In the Spanish Guinea pavilion, Black individuals were presented in constructed "authentic" environments, performing daily activities and cultural practices. These displays aimed to emphasize the exoticism and otherness of African people while simultaneously justifying Spain's colonial endeavors as benevolent and progressive. The exhibition perpetuated colonial stereotypes and reinforced racial hierarchies, portraying African people as primitive and in need of Spanish oversight and development. Such displays were intended to demonstrate Spain's imperial reach and its role in bringing civilization to its African territories, aligning with broader European colonial narratives. This objectification and dehumanization of Black bodies as in the case of the Corisqueños dancers served to legitimize colonial rule and distract from the exploitative realities of colonialism. The pavilion’s portrayal of Spanish Guinea thus played a crucial role in the cultural and political propaganda of the time, reinforcing Spain's colonial identity and ambitions on the international stage. Evidence of these human exhibits can be found in the photographs, articles, and postcards of the time, which documented and promoted the exposition’s themes and displays.

Creator

Alexis Hernando Cubas

Source

Sánchez Gómez, Luis Á. "África En Sevilla: La Exhibición Colonial De La Exposición Iberoamericana De 1929." Hispania (Madrid), vol. 66, no. 224, 2006, pp. 1045-1082.

Manuel, "Fotos y postales antiguas de Sevilla". https://postalesyfotosantiguasdesevilla.blogspot.com/2020/02/pabellon-de-guinea-en-la-exposicion.html

Archivo ABC. https://www.abc.es/archivo/fotos/los-reyes-de-espana-visitan-el-pabellon-de-guinea-en-la-7756607.html?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.es%2Farchivo%2Ffotos%2Flos-reyes-de-espana-visitan-el-pabellon-de-guinea-en-la-7756607.html

Date

1929

Rights

Archivo ABC: Los Reyes de España Visitan el pabellón de guinea en la exposición Iberoamericana de 1929 en Sevilla

Relation

«El pabellón de Guinea en la Exposición de Sevilla» en Revista Hispano-Africana 5 (mayo de 1929) p. 15.

Blanchard, Pascal. Human Zoos: Science and Spectacle In the Age of Colonial Empires. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2008.

González, Danae G., and Diana Arbaiza. "El Archivo Colonial Bajo El Foco: Representaciones Audiovisuales De Guinea Ecuatorial." Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, 2022, pp. 159-174.

Plasencia Camps, Inés. "Embodying the Colonial Memory. White Colonists and “implicated Subjects” in Photographs from Equatorial Guinea." Culture & History Digital Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, 2023, pp. e004.

Sánchez Gómez, Luis Á. "África En Sevilla: La Exhibición Colonial De La Exposición Iberoamericana De 1929." Hispania (Madrid), vol. 66, no. 224, 2006, pp. 1045-1082.

Stoler, Ann Laura. Along the Archival Grain: Epistemic Anxieties and Colonial Common Sense. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.

Maxwell, Anne. Colonial Photography and Exhibitions: Representations of the Native and the Making of European Identities, 1901.

Language

Spanish and English

Coverage

Spain