Disney Parks and the Construction of American Identity - (Studies in Disney and Culture) by Jennifer A Kokai & Tom Robson (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Focusing primarily on Walt Disney World, in a time of unmatched cultural anxiety, the authors use their influential 'tourist as actor' framework to unpack the ways that Disney parks and their guests co-create performances of implicit Americanness through case studies on music, geography and ecology, sports, families, and politics.

Review Quotes

"Jennifer A. Kokai and Tom Robson's Disney Parks and the Construction of American Identity: Tourism, Performance, Anxiety is a must-read for anyone interested in the serious study of Disney's theme parks. Astutely weaving together moments of lived personal experience with a range of academic approaches and concepts, the book offers a timely and essential analysis of the ongoing political, social and cultural tensions being played out within the spaces of Walt Disney World."

"Jennifer Kokai and Tom Robson once again provide seminal work on Disney theme parks, providing an in-depth study on what they mean to its audiences, and to US society at large. It is without a doubt the book on the parks we need right now, and will provide fertile ground for scholarship for decades to come."

About the Author

Jennifer A. Kokai is director of the School of Theatre and Dance and the Endowed Chair of the Holloway and the Brit at the University of South Florida.
Tom Robson is assistant teaching professor in Purdue University's Cornerstone Integrated Liberal Arts program.