"Shame and the Naked Cage: Zoo Revitalization in Postwar America": A talk by Lisa Uddin
How and why do zoos provoke shame? This talk considers the history of feeling bad at the zoo by focusing on the shape of postwar animal displays in U.S. urban regions. Beginning in the late 1950s, shame was a common zoo-going experience, echoed by zoo professionals, urban reformers and environmental advocates. Retracing efforts to improve the material and symbolic life of zoos in this period, Lisa Uddin examines the racial dynamics of the so-called Naked Cage and reflects on the affective legacies for "green" zoos today. Uddin received her Ph.D. in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester, and has held fellowships at the Smithsonian Institution and the Pembroke Center at Brown University.
Lisa Uddin will be in residence at the IAS during the fall of 2009 with the Environment, Culture, and Sustainability Quadrant.
Question and Answer Session