Fantasies of Identification. Ellen Samuels

      

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       Fantasies of Identification: Disability, Gender, Race

      Ellen Samuels

      Fantasies of Identification

      Disability, Gender, Race

      Ellen Samuels

      New York University Press

      New York and London

      New York University Press

      New York and London

      www.nyupress.org

      © 2014 by New York University

      All rights reserved

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Samuels, Ellen Jean.

      Fantasies of identification : disability, gender, race / Ellen Samuels.

      pages cm. — (Cultural front)

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-1-4798-1298-1 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4798-5949-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      1. Identification—Social aspects. 2. Group identity. 3. Identity (Psychology) 4. Disabilities. I. Title.

      HM753.S26 2014

      305.9’08—dc23

      2013042415

      References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

      New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.

      A book in the American Literatures Initiative (ALI), a collaborative publishing project of NYU Press, Fordham University Press, Rutgers University Press, Temple University Press, and the University of Virginia Press. The Initiative is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. For more information, please visit www.americanliteratures.org.

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Introduction: The Crisis of Identification

      Part I. Fantasies of Fakery

      1. Ellen Craft’s Masquerade

      2. Confidence in the Nineteenth Century

      3. The Disability Con Onscreen

      Part II. Fantasies of Marking

      4. The Trials of Salomé Müller

      5. Of Fiction and Fingerprints

      Part III. Fantasies of Measurement

      6. Proving Disability

      7. Revising Blood Quantum

      8. Realms of Biocertification

      9. DNA and the Readable Self

      Conclusion: Future Identifications

      Notes

      Bibliography

      About the Author

      Acknowledgments

      A room of her own is a marvelous sanctuary for a writer, but even more necessary is the companionship and solidarity of other people. So many friends and colleagues have supported me through the many years of completing this project that no words I can write here can fully recognize the crucial role they have played. Every word in this book is a testimony to exquisite interdependence, and I am grateful to every person whose presence in my life enriched this work.

      At Oberlin College, Carol Lasser, Yopie Prins, Wendy Hesford, and Sandy Zagarell taught me how to write, read, and exist as a feminist scholar. More than anyone else, Barbara Helfgott Hyett helped me to find my poetic voice. At Cornell University, A. R. Ammons, Ken McLane, Robert Morgan, and Debra Fried taught me fine-tuning, while Nina Revoyr, Angela Bommarito, Nancy Kok, Jennifer Gilmore, Bethany Schneider, Katie-Louise Thomas, and Dana Luciano helped me survive Ithaca winters. Lisa Diamond and Judi Hilman became family in the best sense of the word, and Sarah McKibben brought the deliciousness of salads and the