Description

Book Synopsis
Offers a look at American ritual. This title focuses on the Miss America pageant in particular, considering its claim to be an accurate representation of the diversity of contemporary American women. It explores the cultural constructions and legitimations that go on during the long process of the pageant.

Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. "A Certain Class of Girl": Respectability and the Structure of the Miss America Pageant
2. Anatomy of a Beauty Pageant: The Swimsuit Competition
3· "If You Were a Color, What Color Would You Be?": The Interview and Talent Competitions in the Miss America Pageant
4· Bodies of Difference: Race, Nation, and the Troubled Reign of Vanessa Williams
5· The Representational Politics of Whiteness and the National Body: Bess Myerson, Miss America 1945, and Heather Whitestone, Miss America 1995
6. International Spectacles, National Borders: Miss Universe and the "Family of Nations"
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

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    A Paperback / softback by Sarah Banet-Weiser

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      Publisher: University of California Press
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 30/09/1999
      ISBN13: 9780520217911, 978-0520217911
      ISBN10: 0520217918

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      Offers a look at American ritual. This title focuses on the Miss America pageant in particular, considering its claim to be an accurate representation of the diversity of contemporary American women. It explores the cultural constructions and legitimations that go on during the long process of the pageant.

      Table of Contents
      List of Illustrations
      Acknowledgments
      Introduction
      1. "A Certain Class of Girl": Respectability and the Structure of the Miss America Pageant
      2. Anatomy of a Beauty Pageant: The Swimsuit Competition
      3· "If You Were a Color, What Color Would You Be?": The Interview and Talent Competitions in the Miss America Pageant
      4· Bodies of Difference: Race, Nation, and the Troubled Reign of Vanessa Williams
      5· The Representational Politics of Whiteness and the National Body: Bess Myerson, Miss America 1945, and Heather Whitestone, Miss America 1995
      6. International Spectacles, National Borders: Miss Universe and the "Family of Nations"
      Conclusion
      Notes
      Bibliography
      Index

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