UC Research Profile - University of Canterbury

Associate Professor Maureen Elizabeth Montgomery

Contact

Department: History

Email: maureen.montgomery@canterbury.ac.nz

Office:

Language: English

About

Research / Creative works

Methods & Equipment

Fields of Research

Cultural Politics of National Identity and Race
Memory, Trauma, Narrative
Cultural history of USA 1870-1920
Ethnicity and identity

Researcher Summary

My first book, 'Gilded Prostitution: Money, Migration and Marriage, 1870-1914' (Routledge, 1989) was a study of transatlantic relations and culture focusing on American women who married into the British peerage. I followed this up with a study of American women in the bourgeois elite, concentrating on New York City and drawing upon the fiction of Edith Wharton, entitled Displaying Women: Spectacles of Leisure in Edith Wharton’s New York (Routledge, 1998). My current book project, Whiteness and Politeness: The Racialization of Civilization, 1880-1930, is another venture into the cultural history of the period and examines travel literature, etiquette manuals, and novels of manners as a way of understanding how the American bourgeois elite conceptualized national identity at a time of fraught racial tensions.

Subject Area: Disciplines

American Studies: American Studies
Cultural Studies: Cultural Studies
History, History of Art, Classics and Curatorial Studies: Modern History: American
Literature: Literature

Research/Scholarly/Creative Works

Montgomery ME. (2016) Possessing Italy: Wharton and American Tourists. In Goldsmith M; Orlando E (Ed.), Edith Wharton and Cosmopolitanism (1st ed.): 192-231. Gainesville: University Press ofo Florida. (Chapters)

Montgomery ME. (2015) An American Witness: Edith Wharton and World War One. Salve Regina University, Newport, RI, USA: McGinty Distinguished Chair Lecture. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery ME. (2015) Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers and the American Siege of London. Edith Wharton Restoration Society, The Mount, Lenox, MA, USA: Lecture Series. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery ME. (2015) An American Witness: Edith Wharton and World War One. Christchurch, New Zealand: New Zealand Historical Association Conference (NZHA), 2-4 Dec 2015. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2015) Eyes that have seen what one dare not picture": How Wharton and Hemingway tell a true war story in "Coming Home" and "Soldier's Home. Boston, MA, USA: American Literature Association, 22-22 May 2015. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2015) Rethinking Gender and Power: How Elite Women in Turn-of-the-Century New York Leveraged Wealth to Build Domestic, Philanthropic and Political Capital: Commentary. New York, NY, USA: American Historical Association Conference, 2-4 Jan 2015. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2014) From Ochre Court to Downton Abbey: Transatlantic Marriages and the British Peerage, 1870-1914. Salve Regina University, Newport, RI, USA: Inaugural McGinty Distinguished Chair Fall Public Lecture. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery ME. (2014) The First World War at 100: Understanding the Cost, Legacy, and Meaning of The Great War: Edith Wharton and World War One. Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI, USA. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery ME. (2013) Gate crasher Par Excellence: Undine and the "Aborigines" in The Custom of the Country. Boston, MA, USA: American Literature Association Conference, 23-26 May 2013. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2011) No Place Like Home: Configurations of the United States in American Travel Writings in the Progressive Era. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 5th World Congress of International American Studies Association, 25-30 Jul 2011. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2010) Babylon Girls: Black Women Performers and the Shaping of the Modern. By Jayna Brown. (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008). Journal of American History 96(4): 1215-1216. [Book Review]. (Other)

Montgomery ME. (2010) Edith Wharton: Narrating the Past. The Edith Wharton Review 26(2): 11-15. (Journal Articles)

Montgomery ME. (2010) Keep the American eagle very quiet... when travelling in foreign countries': Race, Nation and Civilization in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Australasian Journal of American Studies 29(2): 73-95. (Journal Articles)

Montgomery ME. (2010) Natural Distinction': The American Bourgeois Search for Distinctive Signs in Europe. In Beckert S; Rosenbaum J (Ed.), The American Bourgeoisie: Distinction and Identity in the Nineteenth Century: 27-44. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230115569. (Chapters)

Montgomery ME. (2008) United States Studies in a Transnational Context. International Forum for US Studies: United States Studies in a Transnational Context, 03 Oct 2009. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery ME. (2008) Edith Wharton: Narrating the Past. Pittsfield, MA, USA: Edith Wharton and History, Edith Wharton Society Annual Conference, 1 Jan 2008. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2007) A Degree in Bullying and Self-Interest? No Thanks!' The Branding of American Studies. In North America: Tensions and (Re)solutions : Selected Papers from the 7th International Tartu Conference on North-American Studies Cultural Studies Series 8: 128-140. (Conference Contributions - Published)

Montgomery ME. (2007) Vulgar, vulgar, vulgar': American Divorcées and Transatlantic Encounters in Henry James' 'The Siege of London' and Edith Wharton's 'The Custom of the Country'. In Blaim A; Kutnik J; Hlibowicka-Weglarz B (Ed.), Zeszyry Navkowe: 37-56. Lublin: Wyższa Szkoła Społeczno-Przyrodniczegw Wblirie. (Chapters)

Montgomery ME. (2006) Beyond the Buzz: What is an Internationalist American Studies Programme? Oakland, CA, USA: American Studies Association Annual Meeting, 12-15 Oct 2006. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2004) �America the Beautiful:� Patriotism and the Politics of Dissent in Bush�s America. Uniwersytet Marii-Curie Skłodowskiej, Lublin, Poland: American Studies Research Seminar. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery ME. (2004) The Bourgeois World of Polite Encounters: American Travellers, Diplomats and the Construction of a Racialized National Identity. University of Auckland, New Zealand: Australian & New Zealand American Studies Association 21st Biennial Conference, 1 Jul 2004. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2004) America the Beautiful: Patriotism and the Politics of Dissent in Bush’s America. In Bastian P; Pilditch J (Ed.), The End of the American Century?: 27-43. Sydney: ANZASA & Fulbright NZ. (Chapters)

Montgomery ME. (2004) From Descent to Consent: New Zealand’s Search for Identity. In Kroes R (Ed.), Straddling Borders: The American Resonance in Transatlantic Identities: 100-114. Amsterdam: VU University Press. (Chapters)

Montgomery ME. (2004) Madame C.J. Walker. In Winkelman P; Wintz CD (Ed.), Encyclopaedia of the Harlem Renaissance: 1223-1224. New York: Routledge. (Chapters)

Montgomery ME. (2003) "America the Beautiful": Patriotism and the Politics of Dissent in Bush's America. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand: Fulbright New Zealand American Studies Conference, 1 Jul 2003. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2003) American Studies in the Post-Historical University: Symposium on the Future of American Studies. Australasian Journal of American Studies 22(1): 81-96. (Journal Articles)

Montgomery ME. (2003) Natural Distinction: The American Bourgeois Search for Distinctive Signs in Europe. Harvard University: Bourgeois Distinction and Identity, 1 Oct 2003. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2003) Dialogues in Dire Straits: Transnational and Transdisciplinary American Studies in the Post-Historical University. In Poldsaar R; Vogelberg K (Ed.), Points of Convergence: Selected Proceedings of the 5th International Tartu Conference on North-American Studies: 106-121. Tartu: Tartu University Press. (Chapters)

Montgomery ME. (2003) Edith Wharton. In Witalec J (Ed.), Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism: 340-370. Farmington Hills: Gale Cengage. (Chapters)

Montgomery M. (2002) From Descent to Consent: New Zealand's Search for Identity. University of Bordeaux, France: European Assocation for American Studies, 1 Jan 2002. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2002) Savage Civility: September 11 and the Rhetoric of 'Civilization'. Australasian Journal of American Studies 21(2): 56-65. (Journal Articles)

Montgomery ME. (2002) The Savagery of Civility: The Rhetoric of Civilization in the Wake of September 11th. Deakin University, Geelong, Australia: ANZASA 20th Biennial Conference, 1 Jan 2002. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (2002) The State of American Studies. Deakin University, Geelong, Australia: ANZASA 20th Biennial Conference, 1 Jan 2002. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME., Lenz G., Hornung A., Notoji M., Tucker B. and Winkler A. (2002) Transculturations: American Studies in a Globalizing World - The Globalizing World in American Studies. Amerikastudien 47(No.1): 115-119. (Journal Articles)

Montgomery M. (2001) Dialogues in Dire Straits. In. (Conference Contributions - Published)

Montgomery M. (2000) American Studies in the Post-historical University: A View from the Periphery. Dartmouth College, NH, USA: Modern American Literature Seminar, 01 Jan 2000. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (2000) Whiteness and Politeness: Being Civilised Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry. Amerikanistik, University of Mainz, Germany: 01 Jan 1999. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (2000) Whiteness and Politeness: Being Civilised Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry. University of Tokyo, Japan: 01 Jan 1999. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (2000) Whiteness and Politeness: Being Civilized Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry. Amerikanistik, University of Eichstaett, Germany: 01 Jan 2000. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (2000) Global Processes and Local Forms: Internationalizing American Studies. Villa Serbelloni, Bellagio, Italy: Inaugural Conference of the International Association of American Studies, 1 Jan 2000. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery M. (2000) Transculturations: American Studies in a Globalizing World - The Globalizing World in American Studies. Detroit, MI, USA: American Studies Association, 1 Jan 2000. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery M. (1999) The Internationalization of American Studies. University of Iowa, USA. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (1999) Whiteness and Politeness: Being Civilised Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry. Bard College, NY, USA: 01 Jan 2000. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (1999) Whiteness and Politeness: Race and Gender, Etiquette and Civilisation. University of Iowa, USA: International Forum for U.S. Studies, 01 Jan 1998. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (1999) American Civilization: A Problematic Concept. University of Iowa, USA: International Forum for United States Studies, Capstone Conference, 1 Jan 1999. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery M. (1999) Jeux Sans Frontieres, or Can We Play American Studies, Too? Montreal, Canada: American Studies Association, 1 Jan 1999. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME., Tucker B., Dixon-Gottschild B. and Pultar G. (1999) Roundtable: The Imagined Community of International American Studies. American Studies International 37(2) 4-23: 4-7. (Journal Articles)

Montgomery M. (1998) At the Opera: The Erotics of Display and Spectatorship in Edith Wharton's New York. Cooper Union Institute, New York City, USA: 24 Sep 2002. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (1998) Displaying Women: Spectacles of Leisure in Edith Wharton's New York. Barnes & Noble, New York City, USA: 01 Jan 1998. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (1998) Gone Fishing: Newport Summers in the Age of Edith Wharton. Mount Lenox, MA, USA: The Edith Wharton Restoration 1998 Lecture Series, "Women in Achievement", 01 Jan 1998. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (1998) Re-envisioning the Past: African American Women's Fiction as Counter-History. University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand: Feminist Scholarship Series, 01 Jan 1998. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (1998) Whiteness and Politeness: Race and Gender, Etiquette and Civilization. University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand: 01 Jan 1998. (Oral Presentations)

Montgomery M. (1998) Displaying Women: Spectacles of Leisure in Edith Wharton's New York. New York: Routledge. 224. (Authored Books)

Montgomery M. (1998) Electric Affinities: Light and Shadow in Edith Wharton's New York. Australian National University, Canberra, Australi: 18th Australian & New Zealand American Studies Association Biennial Conference, 1 Jan 1998. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery M. (1998) Female Rituals and the Politics of the New York Marriage Market in the Late Nineteenth Century. Journal of Family History 23(1): 47-67. (Journal Articles)

Montgomery M. (1998) The Imagined Community of International American Studies. Seattle, WA, USA: American Studies Association, 1 Jan 1998. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery M. (1997) African American Women's Fiction as Counter-History: Re-envisioning the Past. University of Hawai'i at Manoa, USA: 1st International Multi Ethnic Literatures of the United States Conference, 1 Jan 1997. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery M. (1997) American Studies and Cross-Cultural Communication. George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA: American Studies Outside the U.S., a Colloquium sponsored by American Studies International, 1 Jan 1997. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery M. (1997) Women in the Public Eye: Society Queens and the Press. Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada: Third Carleton Conference on the History of the Family, 1 Jan 1997. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery M. (1997) Women in the Public Eye: The Construction of the Perfect Wife. Berkeley, CA, USA: Californian American Studies Association Annual Meeting, 1 Jan 1997. (Conference Contributions - Other)

Montgomery ME. (1996) "The fruit that hangs highest": Courtship and chaperonage in New York high society, 1880-1920. Journal of Family History 21(2): 172-191. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/036319909602100204. (Journal Articles)

Key Methodologies

Archival Research
Interdisciplinary approaches