Zoo Renewal

White Flight and the Animal Ghetto

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology, Urban, Science & Nature, Nature, Animals, Anthropology
Cover of the book Zoo Renewal by Lisa Uddin, University of Minnesota Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Lisa Uddin ISBN: 9781452941615
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press Publication: April 1, 2015
Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press Language: English
Author: Lisa Uddin
ISBN: 9781452941615
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Publication: April 1, 2015
Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press
Language: English

Why do we feel bad at the zoo? In a fascinating counterhistory of American zoos in the 1960s and 1970s, Lisa Uddin revisits the familiar narrative of zoo reform, from naked cages to more naturalistic enclosures. She argues that reform belongs to the story of cities and feelings toward many of their human inhabitants. 

In Zoo Renewal, Uddin demonstrates how efforts to make the zoo more natural and a haven for particular species reflected white fears about the American city—and, pointedly, how the shame many visitors felt in observing confined animals drew on broader anxieties about race and urban life. Examining the campaign against cages, renovations at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and the San Diego Zoo, and the cases of a rare female white Bengal tiger and a collection of southern white rhinoceroses, Uddin unpacks episodes that challenge assumptions that zoos are about other worlds and other creatures and expand the history of U.S. urbanism.

Uddin shows how the drive to protect endangered species and to ensure larger, safer zoos was shaped by struggles over urban decay, suburban growth, and the dilemmas of postwar American whiteness. In so doing, Zoo Renewal ultimately reveals how feeling bad, or good, at the zoo is connected to our feelings about American cities and their residents.


View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Why do we feel bad at the zoo? In a fascinating counterhistory of American zoos in the 1960s and 1970s, Lisa Uddin revisits the familiar narrative of zoo reform, from naked cages to more naturalistic enclosures. She argues that reform belongs to the story of cities and feelings toward many of their human inhabitants. 

In Zoo Renewal, Uddin demonstrates how efforts to make the zoo more natural and a haven for particular species reflected white fears about the American city—and, pointedly, how the shame many visitors felt in observing confined animals drew on broader anxieties about race and urban life. Examining the campaign against cages, renovations at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and the San Diego Zoo, and the cases of a rare female white Bengal tiger and a collection of southern white rhinoceroses, Uddin unpacks episodes that challenge assumptions that zoos are about other worlds and other creatures and expand the history of U.S. urbanism.

Uddin shows how the drive to protect endangered species and to ensure larger, safer zoos was shaped by struggles over urban decay, suburban growth, and the dilemmas of postwar American whiteness. In so doing, Zoo Renewal ultimately reveals how feeling bad, or good, at the zoo is connected to our feelings about American cities and their residents.


More books from University of Minnesota Press

Cover of the book Does Writing Have a Future? by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Wild Mares by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Protesting Culture and Economics in Western Europe by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book The Lure of Whitehead by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Unlearning the City by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Meaning Of Wilderness by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Sherlock Holmes and the Rune Stone Mystery by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Shopping Town by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Global Bollywood by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Airport Urbanism by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Cyberwar and Revolution by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Four Metaphors of Modernism by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book The User Unconscious by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book Bamako Sounds by Lisa Uddin
Cover of the book The Art of Protest by Lisa Uddin
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy