Imperial Subjects at the Exposition Universelle

• In Event: Empires of Paper: Knowledge Production, Paper Technology, and Power in Imperial and Soviet Central Asia

Abstract

At the 1900 Paris Exposition universelle, Russia’s primary pavilion, the “Palais de l’Asie russe,” was located in the colonial section of the exhibition and consisted of a kremlin on the outside containing an interior with representations of Russia’s “edge” areas – Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Far North and Siberia. This paper looks at the Central Asians and others from these regions, such as Bukharans and Yakuts, who participated personally in the exhibition. How did these officials and others function in terms of Russian self-presentation at the exhibition and what characterized their textual and physical representation both in Paris and in their home territory?

Author

• Katya Elizabeth Hokanson, U of Oregon