Week 1 — IntroductionSOCI/ANTH 441 Material CultureAlexandre Enkerli
Today•Get to know each other•Introduce the course•Give ideas for project•Talk about things
Podcast•Audio recording•Automatic•Posted on Moodle after class•On-record•Can pause•Would prefer to leave on-record
Alex•Ethnographic disciplines (cultural
anthropology, linguistic anthropology, ethnomusicology, folkloristics)
•Summer sociology•Constructive, collaborative learning•Adapting•New course
Attitude Toward Material Culture•Somewhat detached, pragmatic•Geek culture•Not gadget freak•More aural than visual•Not full of “purty pickters” (pretty
pictures)•Navigate abstract and concrete•Sensory aspects
Introductions•Background
▫Academic▫Personal
•Material culture•Favourite thing?•Anything else?
Talking About Things
Terms•Thing, object, entity, stuff, matter,
substance, item, artefact, property•Possessions, belongings, commodities,
goods, products•It, this, that•Material, physical, virtual, imagined•Natural, manufactured, crafted,
processed
Some ThemesInequality, Gender, Domesticity, Public/private dichotomy, Class, Technology adoption, Science, Engineering, Postmodernism, Industrialization, Consumption, Globalization, Commodification. Environmentalism, Gift economy, Property rights, Intellectual property, Ethnic identity, Cultural diversity, Cultural heritage, Tradition, Appropriation, Personalization/customization, Fetishism, Value, Purity, Trash, Subjectivity, Embodiment, Agency, Materialism, Aesthetics...
Interdisciplinary•Psychology, cultural studies, engineering,
history, market research, folkloristics, architecture, economics, archaeology, popular culture, art history, gender studies, semiotics, political science, museum studies, consumer research, American studies, etc.
•Focus on anthropology and sociology
Own Approach to Course•Ethnography•Folkloristics•Music•Sensory anthropology•Semiotics
Course Outline•May change•From lecture to discussion to
presentations•Attendance required, even during
presentations•Seminar participation outside of class•Come prepared•“Prewrite”
Readings•RefWorks•All in databases (links to PDF Files)•On-Campus•May add or replace
▫Web content•Supplementary readings
▫Project▫Further understanding
Moodle•Readings•Assignments•“Handouts”•Slides•Podcast•Forums
▫Forced but can unsubscribe•Podcasts
Social analysis of an object
Three parts•Description of a Thing (20%, due October
1)•Presentation (30%, November 5—26)•Final Paper (40%, Due December 5)
Project Guidelines•Social science on thing•People through objects•From thing to society/culture•Focus on anthropology/sociology•Multiple angles
Choosing a Thing•Leaving open•Some advice•If need help, can discuss•No ideal thing, no impossible thing•Accessible literature
• Not too specialized• Not overwhelming
Example Things•Computer keyboard, cellphone, vinyl
record, vitamin tablets, Aeron chair, vibrator, statue
•Hood (UofT): blackboards, hats, political buttons, music boxes, dress, chocolate, tattoo, postcards, mirrors...
•Other examples: rock, bumper stickers, stamp, t-shirts, car, bicycle
Thing Characteristics•Bounded or boundless•Unique (Statue of Liberty) or category
(pills)•Durable or transient/ephemeral•Technology
Choosing Approach•Named theory (SCOT, SST, ANT,
Symbolic Interactionism)•Scholars•Field/domain•Background•Other work
Method•Description (including sensory)•Genealogy (history, genesis)•Ethnography (including
autoethnography/introspection)•Social/cultural analysis (adoption,
implications, impacts, meanings...)
Questions to ask•Dimensions from Joseph Dumit’s Artifact
Project http://web.mit.edu/dumit/www/artifact-long.html
•Symbolic, Labour, Professional/Epistemological, Material, Technological, Political, Economic, Bodily/Organic, Historical, Contextual/Situated, Educational, Mythological
Presentation•More than “show and tell”•Plan ahead•From “work-in-progress” to “almost done”•“Office hour presentations”
Paper•Bring together•Sociology/anthropology of thing•Case studies
Next Week•Dant on Driver-Car•Schnapp on Moka Express•Barthes on New Citroën
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