SOCI/ANTH 44

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 online after class•On-record•Can pause•Would prefer to leave on-record

Getting to Know Each Other

Alex

•Ethnographic disciplines (cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, ethnomusicology, folkloristics, sociology)

•Constructive, collaborative learning•Adapting•Informal

History of the Course

•Bart Simon's course•Short notice in 2008•Got deeper into issues (anthro/soci of

tech, consumer research, Miller, affordances...)

•Adapted

Upper-Level

•Advanced Course•Not necessarily grad school1•More autonomous•Less required material•Project focus

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

•Background▫Academic▫Personal

•Material culture•Favourite thing?•Anything else?

Introductions

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 Themes

Inequality, 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

•Sociology and Anthropology (half-and-half)

•Architecture•Folkloristics•Technology•Archæology

Interdisciplinary (list)

•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•Bit of lecture•Mostly seminar discussions•Presentations•Attendance required, even during

presentations•Seminar participation outside of class•Come prepared•“Prewrite”

Readings

•Online (links to PDF Files)•RefWorks•On-Campus•Bookstore coursepack

Coursepack

•Short•Comment from student•Actively working with texts•Adapted from previous

Additional content

•Further understanding•Project•Online sources

▫MCU (mcu.sagepub.com)▫Material World

(http://blogs.nyu.edu/projects/materialworld/)

Required Readings

•September 16▫Dant: Mainstream issues in material culture▫Latour: Classic, Important author▫Both with non-humans, both in Bart's

•September 23▫Naji&Douny: Roundup issues, Making and

doing UCL workshop, Francophone anthro•September 30

▫Miller: Important author, Address sad, Mobility, Carribean

•October 7▫Gordon: Neat approach, Folkloristics▫Pascali: talian-Canadians, Material culture

in behaviour▫Both previous coursepack, well-received,

both place, domesticity, gender

Required Readings•October 14

▫Larson: Pharmaceuticals, Minaturization, Museums, biography

•October 21▫Pinch & Bijker: in Bart Simon's, Classic

approach, Large field•October 28

▫Smith & Bugni: in previous coursepack, Classic approach, Architecture. November 4

▫Jackson: Commodities, in my previous coursepack

•November 11▫Bickford: Had MP3 texts (from Bart Simon's

coursepack), Blogged, Immateriality

Online

•Moodle and BuddyPress•Readings•Assignments•“Handouts”•Slides•Podcast•Forums•Podcasts

Project

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•Can be on thing-related behaviour (e.g.

unboxing)

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

Previous Projects

•AK-47•Backpack•Barber pole•Bedroom door•Cigarette•Counterfeit handbag•Drum•Dumpster•Engagement ring•Eyeglasses•Fixie•GPS unit•Hair relaxer•Hockey stick•Housekey•Rose•Student bicycle•Teddybear•US $1 bill•Videogame•Wristwatch

Thing Characteristics

•Bounded or boundless•Unique (Statue of Liberty) or category

(pills)•Durable or transient/ephemeral•Technology

Choosing Approach

•Named theory (SCOT, 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