Course Description and Outcomes:
Simply put, the study of material culture is the study of “things”—human-made or human-modified products. These “things” can include clothing, your grandmother’s heirloom jewelry, a formally landscaped garden, a painting, or the contents of a trash can. The study of material culture is based on the belief that human-made objects can be “read” in much the same way that we read written texts. Scholars of material culture read cultural products as a way to uncover the beliefs, values, attitudes, needs, hopes and fears of a particular society at a particular moment.
However, the study of objects alone is not enough. Material culture scholars must study contexts as well as objects, for it is only by considering the historical, social, spatial, and cultural contexts that we can come to a fuller understanding of the meaning expressed by the human-made/modified product itself.
In addition, the field of material culture studies is filled with challenges and debates. Scholars sometimes argue that objects “speak” to us about the past. What does this mean? How can we know for sure what the artifact(s) is “saying” to us? What are the limitations of using objects as evidence? Is it possible to overstate an object’s value as evidence? Is it possible to overstrain an interpretation? Such questions are endemic to the field and are important to our investigations this semester.
This course introduces students to the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary field of material culture studies through readings, discussion, and research in an array of fields including art history, anthropology, folklore, and history. It is important to recognize that our readings will NOT deal primarily with contemporary art. Rather, this seminar is designed to help you develop critical skills of object analysis and will encourage you to consider the relationships between human –made/modified products and cultural meaning. Finally, through your research projects and presentations we will interrogate the ways material culture methodology is/may be used by practicing artists.
Readings for March 26
For this week, respond to the reading of your choice. Consider the following question in relation to the reading that you choose: What can we learn by looking at objects/art through the lens of race?
7 comments:
Room full of Blues
Jennifer Nardone
Growing up in the Delta definitely gave me some insight when reading this article. My experience was that of the norm. My parents and grandparents had that old way of thinking and escaping that was difficult at times. I have always seen the juke joints lining highway 61, but never really knew what I was looking at. This article answered questions that I’ve always has, just never thought to ask them.
The author makes the argument that Upton’s idea of templates, are not substantial to looking at the unseen and the intangible as well as physical evidence. The author looks at juke joints particularly those in the delta and the spaces they inhabit. I feel like the big picture here is, the template does not fit all, you must observe objects and spaces around you with the right information. In the case of the juke joint, there is no standard building plan. They tended to inhabit whatever space was available. To the juke joint community, the company of peers was more important than how the space looked. The social atmosphere surrounding this community was tight nit; the owner met individuals at the door usually. Upon entering the main space, it was typical to make the rounds and socialize.
One other interesting detail surrounding this culture is the discrete way of communicating through everyday objects to let people know if the juke joint was open, even as a way to subtly communicate that a social community lay among those doors. In the article, it is mentioned that the parking of a truck indicated that a juke joint was open that day; another example was the use of Christmas lights to indicate that a joint was open for business. Although these places surrounded the delta, you had to know the right person with the right information in order to find a juke joint.
This tells us a lot about the juke joint culture in the Mississippi Delta. The people who were used to oppression found a way to congregate safely in order to air their common troubles and triumphs. The juke joint culture believed in community, sticking together and looking out for one another. They also believed in having a good time, and they did so in their discretely marked buildings right off the main road leaving south of town. What does this tell us about race, we are all a culture that has the desire to communicate and congregate, no matter what the oppression, history has taught us that this drive is unstoppable. It is just natural.
Race and Ethnicity in American Material Life: the furniture of Thomas Day; Jonathan Prown
This article considers object's aesthetic links to heritage vs. surrounding culture of the maker. Specifically, this article addresses Prown’s consideration of the furniture and woodworks of a 1800s free black man, Thomas Day.
When considering the linkage between the objects made by Day, one must first consider his upbringing and personal background. Day was not the typical African American living in the south. He had been raised in a situation that enabled him to become educated as well as trained in a skill/trade (furniture making). This, combined with him being the second (possibly third) generation from a family of free blacks, gave Day some distance from his heritage as an African and brought him further from being able to identify directly with the struggle of the slaves in America. Like Prown, I am a bit skeptical to assert a direct linkage to African influence to the design work of Day. That is not to say that some influence may be there, but that I would lean more to his influence being from that of his current day surroundings.
I feel that Thomas Day made his mark on furniture design and had made great strides for the advancement of African Americans within the United States. He should be revered for the positive heritage that can be tied back to his furniture and his social advancements within a racist/slave dependent south. However, I also feel that we can look at Day as an example of the possibilities of people in general when there exists a healthy family life, along with a good education, a person can only be limited by their own ceilings and not their surroundings.
Angie
White Washing America
Bridget Heneghan
I was talking to a fiend of mine over spring break, about this chapter. I was telling him how the chapter starts with a discussion of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and how that leads up to tableware as a powerful social tool. He mumbles something about Jackson and later tells me that while watching Antiques Road Show he came across an object that exemplifies the role of the lady as the ruler over the objects within the home. It was a Victorian leather key basket that would have been a wedding present and sold recently for about $10,000.
Roomful of Blues: Jukejoints and the Cultural Landscape of the Mississippi Delta
This essay focused on escapism and segregation. Jukejoints were a safe place for African Americans to congregate and socialize without fear of being ridiculed by racists. These places became part of the African American culture by the recycling of an old building, in the same way a car becomes part of a cultural style when it is altered by the owner.
Here are some questions I had as I was reading-
1. Is reusing something in a way that is not its intended purpose truly a cultural act or is it in all humans to maximize material potential?
2. If slavery was abolished, why is the secrecy of the jukejoint still necessary?
3. Are jukejoints now considered to be harbors for racial segregation? (Besides "White Sundays")
4. If the proprietor makes no money, why continue running the jukejoint? Why not just turn it into a bar? Is it because they wouldn't be able to discriminate?
I have nothing against jukejoints. In fact I think they are a great idea (cheap drinks and you know everyone there). I just think they remain rooted in a history of segregation. It seems like they were started for a good reason, but in the politically correct world of today they begin to look a little racist.
Roomful of Blues: Jukejoints and the cultural Landscape of the Mississippi Delta
Jennifer Nardone
The article tackled and broached some difficult issues associated with the jukejoint and race. While describing the landscape within and around the juke joint Nardone brought up and touched upon some bigger ideas. While there were plenty involved with in the article three jumped out at me: the principle of anonymity, the crossover of public and private space, and the idea of ownership. Anonymity of the jukejoints inside and out has and interesting dichotomy, the outside compared to the inside of commonality and familiarity.
The jukejoints of the Delta remind me of St. Louis chicken shacks. Very much like the juke joints of the delta hardly marked and only know to those who are in the know. They are places of social gathering and camaraderie. Food is served from a small kitchen in the back and there are often pool tables and several table for seating and domino playing which is sometimes a lively activity. At one of these chicken shacks I might say I have had some of the best chicken wings I have ever had.
I also found it interesting the play suggested in the article about the crossover of the public and private space and am interested in that in my work, particularly the play of sacred space and public space.
Roomful of Blues_Jennifer Nardone
Jonathan Postal
The point that Nardone seems to make several times is that jukejoints carry little or no signage and are to an outsider for all intents and purposes invisible until such time as you cross the threshold and which point you are whisked into a social dance that you are compelled to participate in. The secrecy would be a hold over from slave and Jim Crow periods in delta history where this behavior was necessary for survival.
I myself have observed at least two similar examples that had little to do with race that functioned in a similar manner. One would be the candy stores in New York City that open up after hours and turn into bars. They also keep a low profile and are signified by a word of mouth cliental that are familiar with each other and would be wary of strangers.
The other I ran into when I lived in London and raves would be announced via cell phone messages. The location of the rave always illegal would not be announced until well into the evening and if not recognized by visual signifiers you would not be allowed in even if you managed to hear about it.
So I guess I’m saying that this pattern is applicable to race but not unique to it.
can i get extra credit for commenting again?
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