This paper is to explore how the western identity has been established from the perspective of world expositions and museums in Europe, although the issue of identity is so broad that it is difficult to discuss in any one field. In the western world, large-scale international expositions competitively opened in major cities, mainly in Europe and the United States as the nineteenth century is called as the golden age of international expositions. Primarily in England and France, these two countries sought to achieve their goals of promoting trade, developing new technologies, educating the middle class and manifesting their political stance through the medium of exhibitions during the Industrial Revolution. With this effect, not only have museums been established but they have emerged as a result of the expositions in a number of cities in Europe and the United States. Through international expositions and the museum establishment, the nineteenth century presented the power of each country, imperialism and the enlightenment of the public. The comparison and competition between hosting countries as well as the major participating nations became a tool to represent their national identity and show their pride that they were civilized and superior to colonists. Flourished in this era, imperialism and colonialism have contributed to the accumulation of collections of western museums along with the exposition, thereby resulting in the foundation of Western studies such as anthropology, archaeology and natural sciences. These studies were classified and interpreted from the western perspective. In accordance, these disciplines spread throughout the world with colonialism in the Western world view and Eurocentric mindset. Competitive exposure to the country’s industrial development through international expositions and the accumulation of collections in museums of permanent institutions served as an important vehicle of demonstrating who they were.
Julie K. Brown, Health and Medicine on Display: International Expositions in the United States, 1876–1904 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009), pp. xiv + 326, $45.00/£33.95, hardback, ISBN: 978-0-262-02657-4.
