In "The Ellis Island Snow Globe," Erica Rand, author of the smart
and entertaining book "Barbie's Queer Accessories," takes readers
on an unconventional tour of Ellis Island, the migration station
turned heritage museum, and its neighbor, the Statue of Liberty. By
pausing to reflect on what is and is not on display at these two
iconic national monuments, Rand focuses attention on whose heritage
is honored and whose obscured. She also reveals the shifting
connections between sex, money, material products, and ideas of the
nation in everything from the ostensible father-mother-child
configuration on an Ellis Island golf ball purchased at the gift
shop to the multi-million dollar July 4, 1986 Liberty Weekend
extravaganza celebrating the Statue's centennial just days after
the Supreme Court's un-Libertylike decision upholding the
antisodomy laws challenged in "Bowers v. Hardwick."
Rand notes that portrayals of the Statue of Liberty as a beacon
for immigrants tend to suppress the Statue's connections to people
brought to this country by force. She examines what happened to
migrants at Ellis Island whose bodies did not match the gender
suggested by the clothing they wore. In light of contemporary ideas
about safety and security, she examines the "Decide an Immigrant's
Fate" program, which has visitors to Ellis Island act as a 1910
board of inspectors hearing the appeal of an immigrant about to be
excluded from the country. Rand is a witty, insightful, and
open-minded tour guide, able to synthesize numerous diverse
ideas--about tourism, immigration history, sexuality, race,
ethnicity, commodity culture, and global capitalism--and to
candidly convey her delight in her Ellis Island snow globe. And
pen. And lighter. And back scratcher. And golf ball. And glittery
pink key chain.
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