Chapter 8 Flashcards
What is material culture?
The study of objects of everyday life, of our stuff, is referred to as the study of material culture: the physical and tangible (material) objects the members of a particular culture use on a regular basis which, in turn, provide insight into the way of life and the beliefs of said people.
According to Warren Roberts, why is material culture important?
Because written records account for only 5 percent of people. And the 5 percent is the privileged minority and is not typical or representative of average people. Therefore in order to understand the other 95 percent of population, Roberts and other scholars argue that we must rely on other sources of information. Objects are tangible and endure, they remain to be studied long after people are gone.
What does Henry Glassie mean by “sets of parts” and “parts of sets”?
Referring to sets of parts frames them as texts, things we can observe and describe through an examination of their formal qualities and component parts. The parts of a set indicates that objects exist in different contexts and that these contexts are what give objects their meaning. Therefore, each object is significant because of its relationship to other objects, people, or places.
What is the context of creation?
When studying creation, the researcher studies the process: every stage of development from the learning of skills, to planning, to the execution. The study of material with the respect to creation explores the ways in which the artist or creator interacts with his or her environment- natural, social, cultural.
What is “creation out of culture”?
This creation can be anything from using materials purchased at a store to make a quilt to arranging mass produced home décor items purchased at Target, Home Goods, or Ikea to decorate a dorm room. In this case, it is not just in the manufacture of the pillows, wall art or lamps that creation takes place, but through their arrangement new meanings are made, adding to the layers of the study of material culture.
What is foodways?
Foodways is the academic term used to describe the study of food, which includes all of the actions and practices connected to food within a particular culture or group and how food is used in everyday life.
What is the method used in the study of foodways (five phases)?
The method to study of foodways follows 5 phases: Procurement (how one receives their food) , preservation, preparation, presentation, and consumption.
What is assemblage?
The arrangement of objects in a particular context or location, with meaning created through their groupings.
What is bricolage?
The creation of something new from different and unrelated parts.
How are assemblage and bricolage different?
Assemblage is a contextual understanding of how nonrelated objects can work together in one frame rather than put together to form one object, bricolage.
What is a cultural icon?
Three-dimensional objects (or two-dimensional images of those objects ) with a special meaning for people
What are the functions of icons?
The main function of cultural icons is to give tangible shape to invisible ideas.
How do objects become icons?
If an object has special meaning for people
What are the following types of icons: pure icons (photographs) and functional icons (mirrors)?
Pure icons are created and exist to be icons. They are posed photographs of our culture. Ex: Statue of Liberty
Functional icons are things that have other functions besides being icons. They are mirrors of our culture. Ex: A car
