SOCI/ANTH 441 Material Culture Week 1: Introduction
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Week 1 — IntroductionSOCI/ANTH 441 Material CultureAlexandre Enkerli
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Today•Get to know each other•Introduce the course•Give ideas for project•Talk about things
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Podcast•Audio recording•Automatic•Posted on Moodle after class•On-record•Can pause•Would prefer to leave on-record
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Alex•Ethnographic disciplines (cultural
anthropology, linguistic anthropology, ethnomusicology, folkloristics)
•Summer sociology•Constructive, collaborative learning•Adapting•New course
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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
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Introductions•Background
▫Academic▫Personal
•Material culture•Favourite thing?•Anything else?
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Talking About Things
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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
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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...
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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
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Own Approach to Course•Ethnography•Folkloristics•Music•Sensory anthropology•Semiotics
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Course Outline•May change•From lecture to discussion to
presentations•Attendance required, even during
presentations•Seminar participation outside of class•Come prepared•“Prewrite”
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Readings•RefWorks•All in databases (links to PDF Files)•On-Campus•May add or replace
▫Web content•Supplementary readings
▫Project▫Further understanding
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Moodle•Readings•Assignments•“Handouts”•Slides•Podcast•Forums
▫Forced but can unsubscribe•Podcasts
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Social analysis of an object
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Three parts•Description of a Thing (20%, due October
1)•Presentation (30%, November 5—26)•Final Paper (40%, Due December 5)
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Project Guidelines•Social science on thing•People through objects•From thing to society/culture•Focus on anthropology/sociology•Multiple angles
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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
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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
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Thing Characteristics•Bounded or boundless•Unique (Statue of Liberty) or category
(pills)•Durable or transient/ephemeral•Technology
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Choosing Approach•Named theory (SCOT, SST, ANT,
Symbolic Interactionism)•Scholars•Field/domain•Background•Other work
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Method•Description (including sensory)•Genealogy (history, genesis)•Ethnography (including
autoethnography/introspection)•Social/cultural analysis (adoption,
implications, impacts, meanings...)
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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
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Presentation•More than “show and tell”•Plan ahead•From “work-in-progress” to “almost done”•“Office hour presentations”
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Paper•Bring together•Sociology/anthropology of thing•Case studies
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Next Week•Dant on Driver-Car•Schnapp on Moka Express•Barthes on New Citroën