Most Beautiful Girl in the World Beauty Pageants and National Identity
- List Price: $28.95
- Binding: Paperback
- Publisher: Univ of California Pr
- Publish date: 09/01/1999
Description:
The Miss America pageant has assumed a recognizable, if not uncontroversial, place in American culture. In this nuanced study of the politics and culture of beauty pageants, Sarah Banet-Weiser moves beyond standard feminist rhetoric. From interviews with contestants and extensive fieldwork, she finds that most pageants are characterized by the ambivalence of contemporary "liberal" feminism, encouraging individual achievement, self-determination, and civic responsibility while promoting very conventional notions of beauty. Banet-Weiser convincingly argues that beauty pageants are sites of complex cultural work, where ideas of race and nationalism often take center stage.
Expand description
Drawing on ethnographic research, feminism, and cultural criticism, this book is situated at the center of contemporary debates on what constitutes a distinct "feminist" methodology. To this end, it explores many different aspects of the Miss America pageant, including the swimsuit, the interview, and the talent competitions. It also takes a closer look at some extraordinary Miss Americas, such as Bess Myerson, the first Jewish Miss America; Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America; and Heather Whitestone, the first Miss America with a disability.
Product notice
Returnable at the third party seller's discretion and may come without consumable supplements like access codes, CD's, or workbooks.
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