Triumph of commercialism : the commodification of the Middle Eastern exotica at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893

Abstract

This thesis attempts to indicate how the concessionaires of the Middle Eastern exhibits in the Midway Plaisance at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 trafficked in centuries-old stereotypical Muslim images in the United States to realize a large financial profit at a time when American consumer culture was starting to emerge, and how they succeeded against such weaker competitors as the World’s Parliament of Religions and individual efforts made by official bodies such as the Ottoman government. In a larger context, it deals with the subject of how the American advertising and entertainment industries of the twentieth century adopted the practices of the Midway entrepreneurs by using Oriental stereotypes to generate profits.