JOURNAL ARTICLE

The White Fraud: White Elephants, Siam, and Comparative Racialization.

Published In: Journal of American Studies, 2023, v. 57, n. 5. P. 611 1 of 3
Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3
Authored By: BULLEN, ROSS 3 of 3

Abstract

In this paper I examine P. T. Barnum's attempt to bring the first "sacred white elephant" to America, and his subsequent "white elephant war" with rival showman Adam Forepaugh, through the lens of Afro-Asian comparative racialization. I look at several accounts of white elephants that describe their skin color in terms of the US's Black/white race dichotomy and ask why this animal was a popular figure for examining the US's shifting attitude toward race and transpacific imperialism in the late nineteenth century. By reading the "white elephant war" through a comparative framework, I argue that the heterogeneous histories of both African American and Asian racialization inhered and intersected in this specific instance of racial comparison, while tracking the overlaps and oversights that this analysis reveals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

Source:Journal of American Studies. 2023/12, Vol. 57, Issue 5, p611
Document Type:Article
Subject Area:History
Publication Date:2023
ISSN:0021-8758
DOI:10.1017/S0021875823000580
Accession Number:175349221
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