摘要：Abstract The 1903 Delhi durbar was a historically significant event designed to celebrate British sovereignty over India. The durbar’s pageantry re-appeared in the United States in various formats that ignored its original political purpose but adapted its imposed and invented princely traditions. These dissimilar milieus—stereoviews, postcards of Luna Park in Coney Island and circus parades—reached their respective peaks in commodifying orientalist excess for the American public at the start of the twentieth century. The interrelated presentations of durbars embodying foreignness served a symbolic function in a multicultural America grappling with issues of social inclusion. As they re-packaged the extravagance of the durbar’s visuality to provide its appeal as public entertainment, the American versions used the durbar’s characterization of India as the embodiment of the exotic to contrast with the modernity of life in America. This dichotomy was useful in contributing to the cultural dimensions of a collective identity at a critical period of changing American demographics that was swelled by new waves of immigration.
关键词：American identity ; circus ; Coney Island ; India ; Luna Park ; popular culture ; postcards ; parades ; stereoviews ; foreignness in the arts
