Theories of Material Culture Wiki



Welcome to the Theories of Material Culture Wiki
This wiki has been organized in the following format:


 * Clicking on a particular week will redirect you to my plan for that week (if I submitted one). The plans will not be presented in full; rather. I highlight selected issues and questions I had that week prior to class (as taken from the plan). If any issues/questions were covered during class, I will then respond to them below the original submission.

This wiki was created as the final project for a graduate seminar on Theories of Material Culture. It is meant to be a platform for both informal and formal discussion of some of the tropes that accompany the study of material culture. In particular, this wiki relies upon the dual nature of what I call a "folktrope"  - that is, heuristic/expressive devices that the "folk" might use when discussing material culture, as well as the trope of the "folk" itself that sprinkles the literature - as a way to thematically connect all of the readings/theories together. This class being the first and only folklore class I have taken thus far, I apologize for any perceived oversights in definitions and/or explanations that might be present in the following pages. I acknowledge that there will be a biased presentation of some of these terms as I attempt to share my own point of view regarding terms like "folk" or "culture" - there are of course multiple perspectives and voices that deserve to also be heard, but due to the limited time, author's experience, and focus of this wiki, they might not necessarily make it on here. In the future, the pages found on this wiki may evolve into more polished, objective versions that will be of use to other scholars and folk interested in material cultures or folktropes, but at present, they remain a) a work in progress, and b) primarily geared towards the material that was covered in our seminar.
 * Clicking on the theme for a week will redirect you to a page in which I discuss my understanding of how that particular theme relates to the study of material culture. On these pages I will cite selected excerpts from my notes (in a more accessible, reformatted version for thematic clarity). I intend for the hypertext function of this wiki to facilitate more (inter)active engagement with the text.
 * Clicking on the tabs at the bottom (authors/plans/themes/etc.) may allow for easier accessibility to all of the pages that fall underneath each particular category.

The opinions and statements expressed on this wiki reflect those of the wiki author. They should not in any way be taken to reflect the exact views of the professor, other members of the class, the department, or the university. Please feel free to direct any questions/comments/concerns to folktropes (gmail).

Describe your topic
Our class was organized around 14 weeks of readings; each week saw us reading one book organized around a central theme. During each class session, we discussed the book in context of its relation to the study of material culture.

In Week 1, we received an introduction to the organization, format, and thought process underlying the formation of this seminar.

In Week 2, we read A Wealth of Thought: Franz Boas on Native American Art, a collection of essays  and other writings by Franz Boas. The theme was culture.

In Week 3, we read Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United States, by Henry Glassie. The theme was geography.

In Week 4, we read In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life, by James Deetz. The theme was history.

In Week 5, we read Folk Housing in Middle Virginia, by Henry Glassie. The theme was structure.

In Week 6, we read Homeplace: The Social Use and Meaning of the Folk Dwelling in Southwestern North Carolina, by Michael Ann Williams. The theme was experience.

In Week 7, we read Grace of Four Moons: Dress, Adornment, and the Art of the Body in Modern India, by Pravina Shukla. The theme was assemblage.

In Week 8, we read The Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea, by Annette Weiner. The theme was exchange.

In Week 9, we read Signs of Recognition: Powers and Hazards of Representation in an Indonesian Society, by Webb Keane. The theme was signification.

In Week 10, we read Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History, by Sidney Mintz. The theme was commodities.

In Week 11, we read Salaula: The World of Secondhand Clothing and Zambia, by Karen Hansen. The theme was circulations.

In Week 12, we read Made in Mexico: Zapotec Weavers and the Global Ethnic Art Market, by W. Warner Wood. The theme was art markets.

In Week 13, we read Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Own Dreams, by David Graeber. The theme was value.

In Week 14, we read Neo-Pagan Sacred Art and Altars: Making Things Whole, by Sabina Magliocco. The theme was re-mix.

In Week 15, we read Treasured Possessions: Indigenous Interventions into Cultural and Intellectual Property, by Haidy Geismar.The theme was property.

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