Description
Book SynopsisThis book is the first comprehensive study of antebellum depictions of the non-European world. Drawing on well-known works and archival discoveries, both artistic and textual, it proposes that U.S. cultural history cannot be fully understood unless we take into account how Americans regarded tropical America, the Holy Land, Polynesia, and Africa.
The author first analyzes American geographical textbooks, arguing that through their hierarchical, racialized representations of the world''s geobodies the American nation became embodied, was able to see itself on a global stage ushering the world into futurity. These textbooks did not just reflect normative, white bourgeois values; they produced those values daily in schools. Balancing psychological and cultural exegesis, the chapters that follow present case studies about U.S. travelers to non-European lands, in which the otherwise lofty geographic gaze became vexed by immersion in actual locales. A variety of issues and id
Trade Review
"This book is deeply researched, beautifully written, and truly important and original. Harvey has mastered the field of antebellum literary and cultural studies, and he displays considerable expertise in African American, Near Eastern, and comparative studies, particularly in the cutting edge of the literatures of the Americas." -Robert S. Levine,University of Maryland
Table of Contents
Introduction: beyond manifest destiny: American studies, national identity, and other worlds 1. The world as pedagogical spectacle: antebellum geography textbooks 2. 'Precepts graven on every breast': Melville's Typee, Polynesia, and the forms of the law 3. Desire, transgression, and the Holy Land 4. The archaeological sublime of tropical America: Ephraim G. Squier and John L. Stephens 5. Outgrowing the boundaries of North America: Martin R. Delany, Africa, and the question of African-American agency Conclusion: the world archive and the national canon of memory Notes Index.
