Saturday, January 14, 2012

Human Zoos?

A video that was recently released has raised issues from around the world as it shows an indigenous woman from India’s Andaman Islands dancing for tourists in exchange for food.

Human zoos as they are known have been around since the late 1800s where a group of indigenous Aymara Bolivian men were put on display at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair Columbian Exposition.

In August of last year Survival International released information about the Jarawa, an indigenous community living on the islands that have been exploited by tourists awestruck by the thought of seeing indigenous people. As Indian Country Today Media Network reported in August, the Indian government has banned tours to observe the Jarawa, but a road through their land is still used by tour operators.

Now with the release of this video, politicians and human rights campaigners have been enraged at the scene.

India’s Tribal Affairs Minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo promised to take action over the incident terming it “disgusting” on Wednesday, according to an article at yahoo news. Video can be seen here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/jan/07/andaman-islanders-human-safari-video

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