Consuming Ivory : Mercantile Legacies of East Africa and New England / Alexandra Celia Kelly.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kelly, Alexandra Celia, author.

Series:

Culture, place, and nature.

Culture, Place, and Nature

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ivory industry--New England--History.

Ivory industry.

Ivory industry--Africa, East--History.

Ivory industry--Environmental aspects.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Seattle : University of Washington Press, [2021]

Summary:

"The economic prosperity of two nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century New England towns rested on factories that manufactured piano keys, billiard balls, combs, and other items made of ivory imported from East Africa. Yet while towns like Ivoryton and Deep River, Connecticut, thrived, the African ivory trade left in its wake massive human exploitation and ecological devastation. At the same time, dynamic East African engagement with capitalism and imperialism took place within these trade histories. Drawing from extensive archival and field research in New England, Great Britain, and Tanzania, Alexandra Kelly investigates the complex global legacies of the historical ivory trade. She not only explains the complexities of this trade but also analyzes Anglo-American narratives about Africa, questioning why elephants and ivory feature so centrally in those representations. From elephant conservation efforts to the cultural heritage industries in New England and East Africa, her study reveals the ongoing global repercussions of the ivory craze and will be of interest to anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, and conservationists"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Towns That Elephants Built

Chapter One. A History of the Ivory Trade

Chapter Two. Consuming Elephants, Consuming Empire

Chapter Three. Problem Elephants and the Formation of a Conservation Ethos

Chapter Four. The Ivory Museum and the Materiality of Heritage

Chapter Five. The Heritage Industry in East Africa

Conclusion: Notes from the Ivory Tower

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9780295748771

029574877X

OCLC:

1226072845