The Ellis Island snow globe / Erica Rand.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rand, Erica, 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ellis Island Immigration Station (N.Y. and N.J.).

Souvenirs (Keepsakes).

Consumption (Economics)--Social aspects.

Consumption (Economics).

Sex role.

Historiography.

Nationalism.

Ethnicity.

Emigration and immigration.

United States--Emigration and immigration--Historiography.

United States.

Ethnicity--United States--Historiography.

Nationalism--United States--Historiography.

Sex role--United States--Historiography.

Consumption (Economics)--Social aspects--United States.

Souvenirs (Keepsakes)--United States.

Physical Description:

xvii, 339 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Other Title:

Ellis Island snowglobe

Place of Publication:

Durham, NC : Duke University Press, 2005.

Summary:

In The Ellis Island Snow Globe, Erica Rand, author of the smart and entertaining book Barbie's Queer Accessories, takes readers on an unconventional tour of Ellis Island, the migration station turned heritage museum, and its neighbor, the Statue of Liberty. By pausing to reflect on what is and is not on display at these two iconic national monuments, Rand focuses attention on whose heritage is honored and whose obscured. She also reveals the shifting connections between sex, money, material products, and ideas of the nation as she addresses such topics as the ostensible father-mother-child configuration on an Ellis Island souvenir golf ball; the July 4, 1986 extravaganza celebrating the Statue's centennial just days after the Supreme Court's un-Libertylike decision upholding antisodomy laws in Bowers v. Hardwick; and the situation of migrants at Ellis Island whose bodies did not match the gender suggested by the clothing they wore. Rand is a witty, insightful, and open-minded tour guide, able to synthesize numerous diverse ideas-about tourism, immigration history, sexuality, race, ethnicity, commodity culture, and global capitalism-and to candidly convey her delight in her Ellis Island snow globe. And pen. And lighter. And back scratcher. And glittery pink key chain.

Contents:

Introduction: coming to Ellis Island

Breeders on a golf ball : normalizing sex at Ellis Island

Getting dressed up : the displays of Frank Woodhull and the policing of gender

The traffic in my fantasy butch

Green woman, race matters

A nation of immigrants, or whatever

Immigrant peddlers

Product packaging

"Decide an immigrant's fate".

Notes:

"A John Hope Franklin Center book"--Half t.p.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [311]-323) and index.

ISBN:

0822335786

0822335913

OCLC:

57349046