An American Girl Anthology
An American Girl Anthology
Finding Ourselves in the Pleasant Company Universe
Contributions by Mary Berman, Mary Burke, Abigail C. Fine, KC Hysmith, Juliette Holder, Mackenzie Kwok, Esther Martin, Hannah Matthews, Janine Napierkowski, Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler, Samantha Pickette, Sheena Roetman, Rebekkah Rubin, Marissa Spear, Tara Strauch, Cary Tide, and Laura Traister
An American Girl Anthology: Finding Ourselves in the Pleasant Company Universe turns American Girl dolls—and the ever-growing ecosystem surrounding them—inside out. Editors Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler and KC Hysmith, along with an expansive list of contributors across multiple disciplines and within different research areas, explore Pleasant Company (American Girl’s parent corporation) and the social and cultural impact the dolls and broader American Girl universe continue to have for generations of American consumers through thoughtful and fun essays.
This collection serves as an ode to the democratizing power of the internet and the intoxicating power of nostalgia, while also looking toward the future as the eldest American Girl fans become parents themselves. It is also a critical account of the ways in which American Girl has shaped senses of self-worth and hopes for the future, securing a base of lifelong consumers, and also serves as a love letter to the kids we collectively used to be. Along the way, readers will take seriously American Girl’s influence and place within larger cultural conversations. They will find essays focusing on topics as diverse as food and historical recipes in American Girl publications, the advent of “tag yourself” memes, the struggle to find authentic and long-lasting Asian American representation within the pages of the American Girl catalog, and the enduring power of The Care and Keeping of You as a resource for finding joy in our bodies.
This is a smart and accessible volume. I found myself wanting to talk about what I was reading as I made my way through the book.
Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler is a writer and folklorist. She earned her MA in folklore with a certificate in Jewish studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2021. She is a frequent contributor to Lilith magazine, and her work has also been featured in Southern Cultures, the Bitter Southerner, In geveb, and the New York Times. KC Hysmith is a writer and food scholar whose work focuses on the intersection of women, food, and technologies. She holds a PhD in American studies from the University of North Carolina. Her work has been featured in Southern Cultures, Eater, the Boston Globe, and Gastronomica. Hysmith is associate editor, along with fellow food scholar Marcie Cohen Ferris, of Edible North Carolina: A Journey across a State of Flavor and served as the historical editor for When Southern Women Cook: History, Lore, and 300 Recipes from Every Corner of the American South, a cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen.
List of Abbreviations and American Girl Timeline
Introduction: The Making of an American Girl Universe
Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler and KC Hysmith
Part 1: Consuming American Girl
Breeches, Silks, and Flowered Hats: Aspirational Clothing, Sartorial Labor, and Mattel’s American Girl Brand
Abigail C. Fine
“Eating Breakfast Like It’s 1774”: American Girl Cookbooks, Gender, and Identity-Making through Food History
KC Hysmith and Esther Martin
Places, Parties, and Purchases: Creativity and/against Consumerism in the American Girl Experience
Juliette Holder
Part 2: Who Gets to Be an American Girl?
Where Is My Disability Community? A Comparative Close Reading of Children’s Historical Fiction
Marissa J. Spear
How the Irish (Doll) Became White: The Nellie O’Malley AG Story Arc
Mary M. Burke
Belonging and Indigeneity in the American Girl Universe
Sheena Roetman-Wynn
Ivy Ling, Corinne Tan, and Chinese American Misrepresentation in American Girl
Mackenzie Kwok
Caught Between “Jewish” and “American”: Rebecca Rubin and the Americanization of the Jewish Immigrant Experience
Samantha Pickette
Part 3: American Girl Teaches a Lesson
“Nothing but Each Other and Hope”: Addy and the Black Feminist Tradition
Cary Tide
Teaching Girl(’)s History: American Girls, Curricular Standards, and Historians
Tara Strauch
As American (Girl) as Girl Scout Cookies
Janine B. Napierkowski
The Care and Keeping of Me: A Moment, a Year, a Book, and Returning Home to Our Changing Bodies, Again and Again
Hannah Matthews
“Selfish or Annoying”: Etiquette, Gender, and Race in Oops! The Manners Guide for Girls
Mary Berman
Part 4: Making American Girl Our Own
“Maybe I Could Be Part of the Story Too”: Making Meaning and Understanding American Jewish Identity through American Girl
Rebekkah Rubin
Interpreting, Imagining, and Inventing Queer Pasts and Futures through American Girl
Laura Traister
An Interview with the Creators of the “Hellicity Merriman” Meme Account
Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler
Conclusion: American Girls Forever
Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler and KC Hysmith
Acknowledgments
About the Contributors
Index
