Gary McDonogh. Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture

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ent Blaser

Wayne State College

.Joseph Borrell

Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

aniel Bosch

Preceptor in Expository Writing, Harvard University

ark Brewin

Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

ill Brooker

University of Cardiff, Wales, UK

uan Burciaga

Bryn Mawr College

ennifer Campbell

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College

rati Clarry

Hilo, Hawai’i

mily Clough

University of Minnesota

emetrios J.Constantelos

Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

aura L.Coogan

Jacksonville, FL

lison Cook-Sather

Bryn Mawr College

ames David

Boston, MA

ames Devitt

Columbia University

iguel Díaz-Barriga

Swarthmore College

atthew Durington

Temple University

obert Francis Engs

University of Pennsylvania

armen C.Esteves

Lehman College, City University of New York

eryl Fernandes

Seattle, WA

teve Ferzacca

Bryn Mawr College

essica Fishman

Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

tacilee Ford

University of Hong Kong, HK

lizabeth A.Galewski

Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

athleen Galligan

Bristol, Maine

avid Gerstner

University of Otago, NZ

andra Gilchrist

New College of the University of South Florida

avid Goldston

Washington, DC

udith Goode

Temple University

ireille Gouirand

Bryn Mawr College

usan Marie Green

California State University—Chico

obert Gregg

Richard Stockton College, USA

harlotte Greig

Cardiff, Wales

aura Grindstaff

University of California—Davis

my Hale

Institute of Cornish Studies, Truro, UK

ames Heinzen

Rowan University

amela R.Hendrick

Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

ail Henson

Bellarmine University

haron Ann Holt

Philadelphia, PA

racey E.Hucks

Haverford College

usan Brin Hyatt

Temple University

odger Jackson

Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

eborah Jermyn

University of Wales, Cardiff, Wales

dward Johanningsmeier

New York University

enard W.Kaye

Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College

icole Marie Keating

Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

ate M.Kenski

Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

heila Kerr

Joint Services College, Bracknell, UK

effrey R.Kerr-Ritchie

Binghampton University NY

eannie J.Kim

Princeton University

inyoung Kim

College of Staten Island, City University of New York

ames Kraus

Lehman College, City University of New York

sabel Kriegel

Boston, MA

mma Lapsansky

Haverford College

oger D.Launius

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

rian Levin

California State University—San Bernadino

aul Lyons

Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

amona Lyons

Cigna, Philadelphia, PA

ewar MacLeod

Cronkite Productions, Inc., New York, NY

avid McBride

Routledge, New York

ary W.McDonogh

Bryn Mawr College, USA

tephen Miles

New College of the University of South Florida

dward Miller

College of Staten Island, City University of New York

erry Monaghan

University College London, UK

anice Newberry

Bryn Mawr College

tephen D.Norton

University of Maryland

nahid Ordjanian

Queen’s University, Belfast, UK

arc L.Ostfield

Fire Island Pines, NY

ax Page

Yale University

ulie Parr

University of Pennsylvania

avid J.Phillips

University of Texas—Austin

ichard Porton

College of Staten Island, City University of New York

usanna Prough

General Manager of the Philadelphia Classical Symphony

parna Rayaprol

Ahmedanad, India

arren Riess

Bristol, ME

efferson I.Ritchie

Louisville, KY

andy A.Rodriguez

University of Minnesota

rad Rogers

Duke University

harles Rutheiser

The Johns Hopkins University

isa Saltzman

Bryn Mawr College

usan Schulten

Department of History, University of Denver

elinda Schwenk

Doctoral Candidate, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania

obert Schwenk

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

usan Scotto

Mount Holyoke College

arah Shillinger

University of Wisconsin

lliott Shore

Bryn Mawr College

ianca T.Siegl

University of California, Los Angeles

arah Smith

New York City

ary-Christine Sungaila, Esq.

Horvitz and Levy

miko Tajima

University of Washington

unter Ford Tura

Harvard University

haron Ullman

Bryn Mawr College

orelei Atalie Vargas

University of Michigan

razer Ward

Maryland Conservatory of Art

im Watkins

Black Mountam, NC

olville Wemyss

London, UK

homas M.Wilson

Queen’s University, Belfast, UK

avid Witwer

Lycoming College

orgen Witzel

London, UK

indy H.Wong

College of Staten Island, City University of New York

ulie Pritchard Wright

San Francisco, CA

ric A.Zimmer

Jesuit Community, St. Joseph’s Universitv

Introduction

Assembling an

Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture

at the cusp of the

twenty-first century raises many questions about the very terms in the title, as well as the

methods by which we can approach such a massive, variegated and changing topic. As

such, it is important to explain the choices we have made, as editors and writers, in

reparing this volume as well as how we feel it can best be used. At the same time,

having read and thought about the many issues which myriad authors discuss within this

volume, it is also important to underscore repeated themes and questions that have arisen

about American culture in the course of this project.

From the beginning, it has been evident that part of the definition of contemporary

American identity and significance in the world has emerged within the very hegemony

of this culture and its diffusion worldwide since the Second World War. Whether talking

about

Hollywood

cinema,

suburbs, NATO

or a pervasive commodity like

Levi Strauss

lue jeans, American culture has provided both a worldwide image of a complex

“modern” society and a template for reactions to that society and its power. Moreover,

American projections abroad have been shaped by American

colonialism

and

war

well as decontextualized images from

advertising,

news, political rhetoric and

mass

media

. In order to guide users towards a basic understanding of the “Americanness” o

roducts, practices and images, therefore, we recognize that articles on any topic need to

be written bearing in mind readers’ knowledge of American culture and of the

transformations that culture has undergone in different milieux worldwide.

Yet, at the same time, American culture has changed in the past and is changing

dynamically in the present through the very status of the United States as a meeting

ground for world cultures, immigrant and transient. While globalism is a topic of intense

current discussion, American culture has been global since the first encounters o

European and

American Indian

(and the Africans and Asians who followed in due

course). One cannot talk of contemporary American culture without recognizing

African

American

music, Muslim

education, Hasidic

businessmen, Southeast-Asian temples,

Hispanic

urbanization,

Japanese

and

British

investments, European

fashions,

multiple

varieties of Chinese

food

, and competing varieties of wine and whiskey as constitutive o

a changing cultural landscape. Nor can one express these features without noting the

conflicts erupting in diversity the polarizations and contests, as well as the renewals o

American culture this same diversity can facilitate. No encyclopedia can encompass the

total experience and changes of the contemporary US; instead, our intent is to provide

road signs for readers to suggest how they might become aware of this complexity and

change, as well as its ramifications. We conceive of American culture as a process rather

than as a finished object.

The sheer size of the United States, its regional differences and the plethora of peoples

and places within its boundaries also make the compilation of an encyclopedia a

formidable task. While other nations have witnessed growing diversity in the second hal

of the twentieth century the ongoing process of

immigration

to the United States has

rought to the country ethnic groups from all over the world. Further, for every major

city in Spain or Japan, there are five of equal size in the United States. Even for every

film star in Britain, there may be myriad in

Hollywood

alone (some of whom may be

English, Chinese

French

). Criteria for selection, therefore, has been very difficult.

Where one might find one short essay regarding a Japanese or German actor, architect or

laywright in other references on contemporary national culture, in this volume, figures

of equivalent stature must be situated in longer essays about

theater,

film

actors,

architecture

and

literature

Yet this is not intended to be the final reference, so much as an intermediary guide. For

much of the audience for whom we write, we also recognize that there are many other

references available, ranging from specific handbooks including

The Encyclopedia o

Southern Culture, The Dictionary of American Biography, The Encyclopedia of African

merican Women, The Encyclopedia of New York, The Encyclopedia of Rural America,

The Encyclopedia of Multiculturalxism,

Ephraim Katz’s

Film Encyclopedia

or David

Bianculli’s

Dictionary of Teleliteracy

that offer more specialized overviews. There are

also general reference works like the

Encyclopedia Americana,

Microsoft

Encarta Worl

and even the

Encydopedia Britannica

that share some topics with this work, and

cover others in greater depth. Finally all of these topics have been the object of scholarly

examinations and journalistic discussion in the United States and outside of it. Given the

roliferation of such resources and the simultaneous limitations of access which many

readers outside the US may have to them, we endeavor here to provide a clearing house

on contemporary culture, to outline debates and resources while answering immediate

questions (and suggesting the deeply American interest of debate over these answers).

Hence in order to make an encyclopedia, whose assumed authority might otherwise

reify all that it describes, sufficiently sensitive to the rapidly changing dynamics o

contemporary American culture and the multiple reactions already present to it

worldwide, we aim both to provide concise, open information and to give multiple

readings of the American enterprise. In short, the encyclopedia endeavors to look for

America at the same time that it establishes its boundaries and crosses them. In

responding to our intended audiences, we endeavor to observe the United States both

inside out, and outside in, avoiding any sense of “exceptionalism” or a unique and

rivileged history (though that, too, is part of American culture). In this regard, the

rimary and consultant editors and the contributors have offered divergent vantage

points, perspectives and global connections that have facilitated such endeavors.

Before proceeding further, let us begin by clarifying the key terms of the title. The

operational meaning of “American” here is the United States, broadly conceived to

include

borders

and attempts to cross boundaries (whether border

cities,

illegal