". . . Boisseau
recontextualizes U.S. feminism in the cinematic 20th century. White
Queen challenges the narratives we have told about ourselves and
illuminates the imperialism and celebrity worship that lurks within
American feminism yet today."
--Lee
Quinby, Harter Chair, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
May
French-Sheldon's improbable public career began with an expedition
throughout East Africa in 1891. She led a large entourage dressed in
a long, flowing white dress and blonde wig, with a sword and pistol
strapped to her side. As the "first woman explorer of Africa,"
she claimed to have inspired both awe and trust in the Africans she
encountered, and as her celebrity grew, she reinvented herself as a
messenger of civilization and "racial uplift." Tracey Jean
Boisseau's insightful reading of the "White Queen" exposes
the intertwined connections between popular notions of American
feminism, American national identity, and the reorientation of
Euro-American imperialism at the turn of the century.