Women in International and Universal Exhibitions, 1876�1937

Rebecca Rogers editor Myriam Boussahba-Bravard editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:25th Aug '17

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Women in International and Universal Exhibitions, 1876�1937 cover

This book argues for the importance of bringing women and gender more directly into the dynamic field of exposition studies. Reclaiming women for the history of world fairs (1876-1937),it also seeks to introduce new voices into these studies, dialoguing across disciplinary and national historiographies.

From the outset, women participated not only as spectators, but also as artists, writers, educators, artisans and workers, without figuring among the organizers of international exhibitions until the 20th century. Their presence became more pointedly acknowledged as feminist movements developed within the Western World and specific spaces dedicated to women’s achievements emerged.

International exhibitions emerged as showcases of "modernity" and "progress," but also as windows onto the foreign, the different, the unexpected and the spectacular. As public rituals of celebration, they transposed national ceremonies and protests onto an international stage. For spectators, exhibitions brought the world home; for organizers, the entire world was a fair.

Women were actors and writers of the fair narrative, although acknowledgment of their contribution was uneven and often ephemeral. Uncovering such silence highlights how gendered the triumphant history of modernity was, and reveals the ways women as a category engaged with modern life within that quintessential modern space—the world fair.

"The book … focuses on the place that women occupied in the preparation of world fairs as well as on the influence the fairs then had on their activities. This theme offers a welcome addition to the considerable scholarship on international and universal exhibitions… [The volume] in particular draws attention to a wide variety of archives as each article ends with a list of sources and bibliography … testimony to the editors desire to highlight the archives allowing us to rewrite the history of exhibitions."

— Marie Chessel, Images du travail, Travail des images (translated from French)

"The volume’s interest in women’s participation and the gendered dynamics that shaped exhibitions brings to light hitherto neglected issues and opens new perspectives both for women’s history and for research on exhibitions."

— Júlia Garraio, ex aequo ((translated from Portuguese)

"The plurality of themes addressed in this richly documented volume contributes to a variety of historiographies and disciplines. Half of the essays address more than one universal exhibition. We hope, with the editors, that this important book will inspire further investigations revealing the fruitful intersection of histories of women and universal exhibitions."

— Anne Cova, Faces de Eva ((translated from Portuguese)

"A vast historiography already exists on international and universal exhibitions but little scholarship addresses specifically women’s participation despite their presence in the sources and the archives. Myriam Boussahba-Bravard and Rebecca Rogers have chosen to give voice to largely neglected women’s voices, to bring to light forgotten stories and, especially, to provoke an interdisciplinary and transnational dialogue among the authors that echoes that of the female participants in the exhibitions."

— M

ISBN: 9781138636057

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 453g

286 pages