Belgrade zoo, colonialism, cosmpolitanism, exhibiting animals

The history of public zoos as places that exhibit animals and actively shape the human-animal bond in modern society has always been a history of colonialism, classism and oppression. It is a well-established fact that zoos in colonialist countries such as Great Britain and France serve(d) a double purpose: to exhibit living wild (and especially “exotic”) animals in order for naturalists of the time to be able to study them (as opposed to studying stuffed specimens); and to dazzle the public at home by displaying the borders and conquests of the Empire. One came before the other – the first zoological gardens were not open to the general public, they were the domain of the upper classes, the educated and the wealthy – at least until it became clear that keeping a large number of (usually big, often carnivorous) animals (that needed certain conditions – not just in terms of food, but heat and humidity, and also veterinary and other care) was an expensive endeavor, so these places became open to the general, raucous, public. In colonialist countries, the narrative was established fast, and it was clear: “Come see all the places that we’ve conquered, come and see what we own”. The modes of exhibiting animals in colonialist zoos were uniform: they followed the ideas of biological taxonomy and emphasized the dominion of Man and Culture over Nature – especially Other, foreign natures. Zoos outlined the borders of the Empire and glorified imperial conquest. So what happens when, a hundred years after the first European zoos, a city in a country that never colonized anyone, decides to establish a zoo? In this presentation I will focus on the modes of exhibiting animals (and interacting with them) in Belgrade zoo between 1936 – the year it opened – and 1941 – when it was almost completely destroyed by German bombs, and the public narrative surrounding the institution at the time.International Conference Exhibiting Animals. Curatorial Strategies and Narratives, 18–19 November 2022. Project “Non-Anthropocentric Cultural Subjectivity” realized as part of the “Excellence Initiative – Research University” programme at the University of Warsa