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What can homespun cloth, stuffed birds, quince jelly, and ginseng reveal about the formation of early American national identity? In this wide-ranging and bold new interpretation of American history and its Founding Fathers, Kariann Akemi Yokota shows that political independence from Britain fueled anxieties among the Americans about their cultural inferiority and continuing dependence on the mother country. Caught between their desire to emulate the mother country
and an awareness that they lived an ocean away on the periphery of the known world, they went to great lengths to convince themselves and others of their refinement. Taking a transnational approach to
American history, Yokota examines a wealth of evidence from geography, the decorative arts, intellectual history, science, and technology to underscore that the process of "unbecoming British" was not an easy one. Indeed, the new nation struggled to define itself economically, politically, and culturally in what could be called America's postcolonial period. Out of this confusion of hope and exploitation, insecurity and vision, a uniquely American identity emerged.
What can homespun cloth, stuffed birds, quince jelly, and ginseng reveal about the formation of early American national identity? In this wide-ranging and bold new interpretation of American history and its Founding Fathers, Kariann Akemi Yokota shows that political independence from Britain fueled anxieties among the Americans about their cultural inferiority and continuing dependence on the mother country. Caught between their desire to emulate the mother country
and an awareness that they lived an ocean away on the periphery of the known world, they went to great lengths to convince themselves and others of their refinement. Taking a transnational approach to
American history, Yokota examines a wealth of evidence from geography, the decorative arts, intellectual history, science, and technology to underscore that the process of "unbecoming British" was not an easy one. Indeed, the new nation struggled to define itself economically, politically, and culturally in what could be called America's postcolonial period. Out of this confusion of hope and exploitation, insecurity and vision, a uniquely American identity emerged.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Unbecoming British: How Revolutionary America Became
a Postcolonial Nation
Ch 1: A New Nation on the Margins of the Global Map
Ch 2: A Culture of Insecurity: Americans in a Transatlantic World
of Goods
Ch 3: A Revolution Revived: American and British Encounters in
Canton, China
Ch 4: Sowing the Seeds of Postcolonial Discontent: The
Transatlantic Exchange of American Nature and British Patronage
Ch 5: "A Great Curiosity": The American Quest for Racial Refinement
and Knowledge
Conclusion: The Long Goodbye: Breaking with the British in
Nineteenth Century America
Notes
Index
Kariann Akemi Yokota is Associate Professor of History at University of Colorado Denver.
"Novel and engaging...It emphasizes the ambivalent relationship of
Americans toward Britain and their continued dependence upon
Britain. Unbecoming British is written without jargon, making it
very suitable both for class adoption and interested lay
readers."--Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy, American Historical
Review
"Yokota's far-reaching reconsideration of the raw materials
Americans proffered global markets, including the knowledge
economy, offers a fresh perspective that should alter the questions
authors in her wake ask about transatlantic resonance and
implications of objects in their own fields of vision."--Marla R.
Miller, William and Mary Quarterly
"Unbecoming British is an excellent addition to the important
research on collective American identity. In this interdisciplinary
transatlantic study, Kariann Akemi Yokota carefully examines how
Americans transformed from a colonial British identity to an
independent American identity."--Stephanie Kermes, Journal of
American History
"In her extensively researched and well-written book that will
inspire, inform, and even entertain scholars across disciplines,
Yokota breaks new ground by applying perspectives derived from
postcolonial thought. Highly recommended."--CHOICE
"An important and sensitive study of the efforts of postcolonial
Americans in the decades immediately following independence to
become a cultivated and respectable nation. Kariann Yokota
imaginatively uses maps, geographies, botanical studies, British
consumer goods, and other particulars to document the arduous
struggles of a people who so recently thought of themselves as
British to become truly independent. It's an extraordinary work of
cultural
history."--Gordon S. Wood, author of Empire of Liberty: A History
of the Early Republic, 1789-1815
"This entrancing meditation on post-Revolutionary America's pursuit
of cultural independence examines the perplexities of cutting loose
from the nation that for two centuries had set the standards of
civilization for the colonies. Unbecoming British traces this
struggle through published geographies, imports of genteel goods,
the China trade, natural history and medicine, and the creation of
racial identity. There is no more far-reaching or penetrating
survey
of post-colonial American nationalism than this."--Richard Bushman,
author of The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities
"Convincing, thought-provoking, and tremendously original,
Unbecoming British captures exquisitely the ambivalence of the
post-revolutionary United States. An exquisite book-a landmark work
that defines an area of inquiry, and even a cultural formation,
that was right under our noses if only we had noticed. It does what
the best works of cultural history do best: suddenly so many
episodes, persons, artifacts, and expressions seem more
interesting, and
comprehensible."--David Waldstreicher, Temple University
"Remarkably learned across disciplines and continents, this boldly
argued study lets us see the post-revolutionary United States anew.
Struggling to make and have things the world would not ridicule,
and seeking to purchase civilization even during moments of
nationalist fervor, the Founding Fathers shopped for approval in
China, Scotland, France, Germany, and, with considerable pathos, in
London. Yokota delivers brilliantly on the promises of
transnational
history."--David Roediger, author of How Race Survived U.S.
History
"American identity took decades to form, and it was complicated and
difficult...'Unbecoming British' shows how this process was
brightly reflected in material and intellectual culture, rather
than the traditional markers of American pride such as the flag,
the veneration of George Washington and the Fourth of
July."--Joseph Coohill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Envisaging the history of the early American republic in terms of
the problems faced by other societies emerging from imperial
domination is a project that fulfills the current imperative to
refute claims to American 'exceptionalism.' The new America can be
shown to have been beset by the travails of an emerging
postcolonial society as many others were later to be. Yet, as the
rich material presented by Yokota and the probing questions that
she raises
abundantly demonstrate, the American case does not fit easily into
such a mold."--P.J. Marshall, Common Knowledge
"This epic research project is a massive overview of the cultural
history of the New World, the United States. Beginning with the
Enlightenment and moving through post-colonial America, Yokota
brings all aspects of the infant country into play--everything from
the tobacco exports to the porcelain imports has a role in this
drama...A book that will appeal to students of ethnology, history,
Americana, politics, and cultural studies."--Andrea Huehnerhoff,
San
Francisco Book Review
"Unbecoming British offers an ambitious and interdisciplinary
history of identity formation in the United States between the
Revolutionary War and the War of 1812...Unbecoming British
contributes significantly to the ongoing project of breaking down
any belief that the nature of identity in the United States after
the Revolution was monolithic, static, or inevitable...An
invaluable resource to scholars of both British and American
history, as
well as a model of interdisciplinary scholarship of interest to
scholars throughout the humanities and allied fields."--Julia A.
Sienkewicz, Common-place
"Kariann A. Yokota has written a first book of remarkable portent.
Precociously well crafted, this study of commodity consumption
among the patriotic elite in the early republic subverts
professional North Americanist historiography through a stunningly
simple yet major premise...In its own way, this work does
revolutionary scholarly service, threatening to overturn the
established 'First World' constitution of North American
historiography."--Harvey R.
Neptune, Journal of the Early Republic
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