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SUMMARY:Isaac Van Amburgh the lion tamer: spectacle\, education and natura
 l history in Britain\, 1825–1872 - Oscar Kent-Egan (Department of Histor
 y and Philosophy of Science)
DTSTART:20181119T130000Z
DTEND:20181119T140000Z
UID:TALK110353@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Laura Brassington
DESCRIPTION:In August 1838\, an enigmatic American showman by the name of 
 Isaac Van Amburgh arrived in London with a troupe of performing lions. He 
 exhibited daring feats of control over these creatures and helped establis
 h lion taming as a popular and profitable act in theatres and circuses. He
  toured Europe until 1845 and inspired numerous imitators. His shows were 
 the first dedicated exclusively to lion taming and attracted various secti
 ons of society\, ranging from members of the working classes to Queen Vict
 oria. The question of how Van Amburgh tamed his lions sparked widespread d
 iscussion. He was secretive about his training methods and papers speculat
 ed on whether rational instruction\, brute strength or special knowledge o
 f animal behaviour explained his powers. This talk explores the marketing 
 and press coverage of Van Amburgh's shows. It considers the complex imager
 y spun around his performances. Newspaper reports often claimed that the a
 cts revealed social and scientific lessons. They were tied in with Lord Br
 ougham's attempts to reform working class education and debates on behavio
 ural studies of animals. Van Amburgh's show was not merely dismissed as a 
 vulgar spectacle or violent entertainment. I argue that the press transfor
 med it into an illustration of the improvability of nature and the value o
 f practical\, experiential knowledge of animals. These interpretations inf
 luenced the development of lion taming in the second half of the 19th cent
 ury and help explain the persistence of the practice.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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