Anthropology 264, Art History 264, Design Studies 264, History 264, Landscape Architecture 264 Lecture: Tuesday and Thursday, 1:00-2:15 PM, Elvehjem L160 Disc.: Tu 2:25PM – 3:15PM or We 1:20PM – 2:10PM or Th 9:55AM – 10:45AM Elvehjem L170 Instructors: Ann Smart Martin & Mark Nelson Course Description This course introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of material culture studies. It is intended for students interested in any professional endeavor related to material culture, including careers in museums, galleries, historical societies, historic preservation organizations, academic institutions, and arts and cultural programs. During the semester, students have varied opportunities to engage with and contemplate the material world to which people give meaning and which, in turn, influences their lives. Sessions combine in some way the following: presentations from faculty members and professionals who lecture on a phase of material culture related to his/her own scholarship or other professional work; discussion of foundational readings in the field; visits to collections and sites on campus and around Madison; discussion of readings assigned by visiting presenters or the professors; and exams and short papers that engage material culture topics. Course Goals: This course has two interrelated goals. First, students will become acquainted with the field of material culture studies and its methodologies. They will learn what kinds of objects are considered in the study of material culture (from small, intimate artifacts of daily life to large cultural landscapes) and how scholars and professionals from different fields and in different contexts enlist material culture in their research and activities. They will gain an appreciation for the information artifacts can provide. They will learn the kinds of questions that can be asked of objects and the kind of information that artifacts can show us. They will become familiar with (and able to distinguish between) descriptive and interpretive components of material culture study, and gain an awareness of the variety of methods used in the study of material culture. Second, students will gain an appreciation for the ways that “things” help us to connect to the world and see it in a new way, and the ways “things” give meaning to our lives and the lives of those around us. What is material culture studies? The study of material culture is an organized and methodical way of examining the world. The core methods help to gain insights by examining objects and their contexts and asking how objects entangle and guide human behavior. This method can be applied to a wide variety of fields, and the objects may come from one’s current context or from another time, another place or another culture. Both objects and culture are all around us, and within our own daily lives we use objects to give clues about our identities. Likewise, we might make inferences about a person by interpreting their choices for music, clothing, food, housing or mode of transportation. Why is the study of material culture useful to a broad variety of scholars? Today’s world increasingly links people across culture, across space, and across time, requiring us to try and understand people that we might seem to have little in common with. In addition to helping us understand our own lives, material culture’s methods of analysis give us a tool to develop insights about people and cultures outside our experience. These insights are valuable in fields from anthropology to business, from archaeology to design, or in any endeavor where it is valuable to develop an understanding the requirements may not be taught next year because of staffing issues. of people and their lives. How is the course organized? The course first introduces the concepts and methods of material culture analysis by having students examine objects that are familiar to them, in effect using themselves as test subjects. Then, throughout the semester, Tuesday lectures pair two or more speakers united by a common approach or common interests. Exercises, papers and exams over the course of the semester give students the opportunity to apply the material culture methods and theories, incorporating ideas from their own interests. Thursday class time is devoted to field trips, discussion and exercises often expanding on themes introduced by the Tuesday speakers. Concept: 12 paired speakers, 2 presentations per session Tuesdays: Speakers present conversations about disciplinary shaping of knowledge: 20 minute talk for each of two speakers, 20 minute group conversation; 15 minute wrap up. Thursdays: Professors shape issues around the topic. Students discuss readings in small groups with TA assistance, bringing in issues from speakers as well.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 06:34:22 +0000
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