ABSTRACT This essay suggests adopting containment as a lens to read the material and spatial dimensions of sites of public commemoration. Specifically, after investigating six presidential museums and the “First Ladies” exhibit at the Smithsonian, I argue that narratives of containment cast first ladies as outsiders, a threat to be contained, while upholding male rule/agency as the norm. In particular, women are relegated as “outsiders” through their contrast with the president-as-common-citizen; their power and influence are further contained through narratives of circumstance, as well as visual strategies of dissociation. Furthermore, appeals to normalization, masquerading as more “political” enactments of the first lady role, bolster the presidency as inherently masculine. Ultimately, this article extends previous work on containment as a visual lens and offers the potential to expose how sites of commemoration uphold longstanding and problematic narratives of gender and citizenship.

中文翻译：

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被收容的公民：第一夫人、公共记忆和视觉收容的修辞

摘要 本文建议采用遏制作为一个镜头来解读公共纪念场所的材料和空间维度。具体来说，在调查了六个总统博物馆和史密森尼的“第一夫人”展览后，我认为遏制的叙述将第一夫人塑造成局外人，是一种被遏制的威胁，同时坚持男性统治/代理为规范。特别是，女性通过与总统作为普通公民的对比而被贬低为“局外人”；他们的力量和影响力通过对环境的叙述以及分离的视觉策略得到进一步遏制。此外，呼吁正常化，伪装成第一夫人角色的更多“政治”制定，支持总统天生具有男性气质。最终，