Department or Program
History
Abstract
1887 saw the residency of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show in London as a part of the larger American Exhibition of that year. British interest and engagement with the American West had roots in the decades preceding this residency, but it is through looking at this historic moment that we can better understand how British identity of the late 1800s is shaped by performance. Working from the conception that identity is shaped through performance, and the idea that performance can happen on behalf of an audience engaged in a theatrical show, I argue that the Wild West aids in shaping British identity by providing space wherein anxieties, beliefs, and preconceived notions regarding class, gender, and race, can all be comfortingly validated. Though the depictions of Cody’s show are meant to showcase Frontier Life in the American West, these performances in fact do a lot of work toward resonating with currently held British ideals and opinions regarding appropriate class behaviors, gender roles, and racial ideology. Thus, by engaging in these performances as audience members, internalizing the underlying classed, gendered, and racialized narratives, and then spreading that discourse through the media or word of mouth, British identity has a space to develop, with particular facets of that identity becoming more entrenched.
Level of Access
Restricted: Embargoed [Open Access After Expiration]
First Advisor
Shaw, Caroline
Date of Graduation
5-2019
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Recommended Citation
Huftalen, Cameron Connor, "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Performance, Identity, and the 1887 London Residency of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West in Context" (2019). Honors Theses. 281.
https://scarab.bates.edu/honorstheses/281
Number of Pages
117