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Display zones: Modernity and the constitution of cultural difference
Abstract
This dissertation is concerned with the modern Western phenomenon of "display zones." The concept of "display zones" is defined as those spaces of representation which are marked off from the space of daily life with clearly defined borders, and constructed with the intention of causing a sense of spatial and/or temporal displacement. It argues that the dominant mode of representation within the "display zones" is based on the mimetic doctrine of truth. As the major elements of modern representational economy, "display zones" establish and regulate the process called the constitution of cultural difference from a Western perspective. In this process, the representation of non-Western cultures via their display amounts to their discursive constitution as "Other cultures." In the first part of this dissertation, the constitution of cultural difference in "display zones" is investigated in terms of its metaphysical constituents. In the second part, the concrete cases of the nineteenth-century world's fairs, the phenomenon of displaying bodies, and finally the discourse of the modern ethnography museum are analyzed.
Subject Area
Mass media|Philosophy|Cultural anthropology
Recommended Citation
Nalcaoglu, Halil, "Display zones: Modernity and the constitution of cultural difference" (1996). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9639009.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9639009