Traveling Topsy: Uncle Tom's Cabin and Representations of Aboriginal Australian Children in Twentieth-Century Australia.

  • Published In: Mississippi Quarterly, 2024, v. 76, n. 4. P. 481 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Bevel, Felicia 3 of 3

Abstract

This article examines the circulation of Topsy from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom 's Cabin in Australian popular culture during the early-to-mid twentieth century. From playing with Topsy dolls to watching white actresses impersonating Topsy on stage, white Australians of all ages engaged with various iterations of Topsy and attached new meaning to the fictional character. Drawing from newspaper articles, photographs, postcards, and other archival material, I argue that white Australians used Topsy to make sense of Aboriginal children within the larger settler colonial context of marking Aboriginal people as tourist objects and separating them from their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Mississippi Quarterly. 2024/10, Vol. 76, Issue 4, p481
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:History
  • Publication Date:2024
  • ISSN:0026-637X
  • DOI:10.1353/mss.2024.a953238
  • Accession Number:181694663
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