Dahomey

Pick out one building, venue, or activity and prepare yourself to present it in conversation with his premise about the dynamic remaking of American culture in this period.  This is likely to require a bit of digging on your part so that you can go behind rehearsing what Gilbert says.  Writing out your own claim might be worth the effort, though I anticipate that you'll know more and have more ideas than will fit in a sentence or two. In addition you might bring an image.

 I decided to pick the Dahomey Village Exhibit in the Midway.  While Gilbert did not explain much about this exhibit, what he said drew me to it.  First of all, I had not known what Dahomey was.  According to Wikipedia, the ultimate source of all quick, blog-posting facts, Dahomey was, "a country in west Africa in what is now the Republic of Benin. The Kingdom of Dahomey was a powerful west African state that was founded in the seventeenth century and survived until 1894."   However, everything that Gilbert writes about the Dahomey exhibit does not paint the people as powerful, but sad.  Apparently, the Dahomey Village was a "glimpse of barbarism"(115), and did not offer any popular attractions such as dances or rides.  According to Gilbert, "Anthropology was their sole purpose"(116).   I think what ultimately prompted me to find out a bit more about Dahomey, however, was the fact that according to Gilbert, they were the only cultural exhibit not allowed in the Chicago Day parade!  What could have made their culture so "horrendous" that they wouldn't even be allowed in the parade?  Dahomey was apparently well-known for their sacrificial rituals, particularly the sacrifice of humans.  Their economy was also largely founded on the slave trade, selling  captives of war into slavery.   The nation was also known for their female soldiers.  These distinguishing items being stated, one can see where whites in 20th century America were shocked by the Dahomians.  However, it cannot honestly be said that the exhibit practiced war or sacrifices at the fair, and one would think that the participation in the slave trade would be almost a positive point for white tourists.  Yet the Dahomey exhibit remained one of the most popular, if most dismal exhibits.  Why?   While I personally have not been able to find specific details of what happened at the exhibit, my inference is that the fair-goers needed a sense of hierarchy within the Midway.  The Midway was largely constructed as an imperfect hierarchy, with the most "civilized" nations represented closest to the White City.  It would be logical that there would need to be a "bottom of the ladder,"  and who better to choose than an African Nation.   Female soldiers and the practice of sacrificial rites probably only added to the need to have a secure sense of white superiority.   A quote from
http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~hius202/images/lecture04/dahomeyvillage.htm  well represents my theory on the attraction and repulsion equally present in the Dahomey exhibit, "By erecting clear racial hierarchies in public spaces, such as through the display of these "primitive" peoples on the Midway, white Americans tried to maintain hierarchy in the rapidly changing American society. Progress was tied explicitly to whiteness."   In my view, the choice of Dahomey as the token "worst" civilization was likely a choice of convenience, but the message was explicit and important to white fair-goers intent on preserving a sense of superiority and "high culture."