Fur Nation: From the Beaver to Brigitte Bardot

ISBN-13: 9780415158732 / Angielski / Twarda / 2001 / 256 str.

Chantal Nadaeu; Chantal Nadeau;Nadeau Chantal

Opis

This text traces the interwoven relationships between sexuality, national identity, and colonialism. The author shows how Canada, a white settler colony, bases its existence and its nationhood on a complex sexual economy based on women wrapped in fur. She traces the centrality of fur through a series of intriguing case studies, including: Hollywood's take on the 330 year history of the Hudson Bay Company, founded to exploit Canada's rich fur resources; the life of a postwar fur fashion photographer; a 1950s musical called Fur Lady and the battle between Brigitte Bardot's anti-fur activists and the fur industry. Chantal Nadeau highlights the connection between fur ladies - women wearing, exploiting or promoting furs - and the beaver, symbol of Canada and nature's master builder. She shows how, in postcolonial Canada, the nation is sexualised around female reproduction and fur, which is both a crucial factor in economic development, and a powerful symbol through which the nation itself is conceived and commodified. This book demonstrates that, for Canada, fur really is the fabric of a nation.

Spis treści

Acknowledgements List of illustrations Prologue Section One: Fur Nation 1. My Fur Ladies (The Fabric of a Nation) 2. Princes, Bear Boys, and Beaver Men (Tales from the Beaver Clubs) Section Two: Beavers 3. The eyes of June Sauer (For a Sexual economy of fur fashion photography) 4. My Fur Lady , Canada's Liberty Section Three: Bardots 5. BB and her Beasts 6. Venus Forever (The Next Fur Generation) Endnotes Bibliography

O autorze

Chantal Nadeau is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Concordia University, Montréal.