The Dual Meanings of Artifacts
Public Culture, Food, and Government in the "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?" Exhibition
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3757688 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elizabeth A Petre (Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, PA, USA, corresponding author), David Haldane Lee (0000-0001-9566-2020, New York City College of Technology) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 13 |
| Pages | 1843-1859 |
| Publication date | 2021-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Behavioral Scientist (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7642 • E-ISSN: 1552-3381 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/00027642211003150 |
| OpenAlex | W3148462496 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 22 |
In 2011, "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam? The Government's Effect on the American Diet" (WCUS) was exhibited at the Lawrence F. O'Brien Gallery of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. Afterward, it toured the country, visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) David J. Sencer Museum in Atlanta, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, and the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka. The exhibition website states that WCUS was "made possible" by candy corporation Mars, Incorporated. WCUS featured over a 100 artifacts tracing "the Government's effect on what Americans eat." Divided into four thematic sections (Farm, Factory, Kitchen, and Table), WCUS moves from agrarianism, through industrial food production and into mess halls, cafeterias, and individual kitchens. Photos, documents, news clippings, and colorful propaganda posters portray the government as a benevolent supporter of agriculture, feeder of soldiers and children, and protector of consumer health and safety. Visitors are positioned as citizens in an ideological mélange of paternalism and patriotism. In this rhetorical walk-through of the exhibition, we consider the display of archival materials for purposes of positioning, in consideration of past and present issues of diet and governance. Making explicit unstated assumptions, we claim that, although propagandistic artifacts take on different meanings to those viewing them decades later as memorabilia, they maintain their ideological flavor
Art history · Exhibition · Government (linguistics) · Ideology · Media studies · Paternalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Culinary Culture and Tourism · History · Law
Propaganda & persuasion
Sweetness and power
The Machine in the Garden
Counting on Dinner
Places of Public Memory
Competing memories
What's Cooking, Uncle Sam
Prepare to Believe”
Performing the Promise of Plenty in the Usda's 1933–34 World's Fair Exhibits
How do people define moderation
From Betty Crocker to Feminist Food Studies
Great Transformation
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |