Volition and Valorization in the Analysis of the ‘Careers’ of People Exhibited in Freak Shows

ABSTRACT

This essay examines the problems posed by our attempts to make sense of the participation of people in public acts that debase them. In this case the context is the ‘freak show’–the commercial display for profit of people with such physical anomalies as excessive height or weight, limb deficiencies and misshapen heads. The point of departure for the analysis is twofold: an examination of consent theory based on Don Herzog's Happy Slaves and a description and critique of a recent historical work, Robert Bogdan's Freak Show.