Material Culture Theory Flashcards
What does Fernand Braudel have to say about the material world ?
‘Material life is made up of people and things’
What Is Henry Glassie’s main argument?
That by focousing on words whether written or spoken we are omitting whole spheres of experience that are cumbersome you framed in language but gracefully snapped into artefacts . . . We miss the wordless experience of all people
Who argues that through just looking at text and words we omit whole spheres of experience from study. Meaning we miss the wordless experience of all people
Henry Glassie
Material culture expresses and mediates human and social relationships
Ann smart
What does Ann smart say about material culture
That material culture expresses and mediates human and social relationships.
‘No one denies the importance of a thing, but learning form them requires rather more attention than reading texts … The grammar of things is related to, but more complex and difficult to decipher than the grammar of words’
David Kingery
What does david Kingery have to say about deciphering objects
No one Denys things importance. Learning from them is more difficult than learning from texts. The grammar of things is mor difficult to decipher
What text did Paula findlen write ?
Objects in motion
Who wrote article ‘objects in motion’
Paula findlen
What are Paula findlen main arguments in ‘objects in motion’
- that people and identities are constructed through things
- that objects move in and out of desirability throughout time, which means that they appear and disappear throughout the historical record
Findlen thing quote
‘Things help us to understand the divisions of this world’
Findlen system quote
‘Every object takes its place in a system of use and meaning in which value is constantly being renegotiated’
Findlen identity quite
‘People construct identities through things’
What is written by Karen Harvey
Introduction to ‘history and material culture’
Who’s article is the introduction to ‘history and material culture’
Karen Harvey
To Karen Harvey what are objects
- Objects are autonomous and active rather than just reflective . –They do not just aquire cultural meanings
- through their very materiality they have a role to play in creating and shaping experiences identities and relationships
How does Karen Harvey argue that knowing flaws helps us study material culture
By being wise to concerns at the core of the academic discipline it allows us to be self reflective about the questions we are asking
What article by Tara hamling and Catherine Richardson did we study
Introduction to everyday objects
Who wrote introduction to everyday objects
Tara hamiling and Catherine Richardson
Hamilng and Richardson’s argument about relation
‘Objects need to be considered in relation to their original historical content as part of activities’
What does Daniel Miller argue about noticing objects
The less we are aware of objects the more powerfully they can determine our expectations calling this the humility of things
What is the ‘humility of things’
Objects are important precisely because we do not notice them .. Daniel Miller .. This means that important objects may be hidden from the historical record precisely because people did not notice them.
What are this issues that Lena Orlin highlight in respect to the interpretation of objects
We read past objects through the eyes of our culture, which in turn has been conditioned through victorian sentimentality .. Therefore cultural constructions skew our interpretation of the past
Who wrote ‘the object’
Adrienne Hood
What article did Adrienne Hood write
‘The object’
What does hood have to say about the power of objects
‘The power of objects opens up new avenues of historical thinking’
What does hood ask us to question when studying objects
Why have they been collected .. Why was it treasured… No neutral objects ‘it is imperative for researchers to interrogate the representativeness of the artefacts they use as they would without texts’
Who wrote ‘it is imperative for researchers to interrogate the representativeness of the artefacts they use as they would without texts’
Adrienne hood
Who adapted T.Hill’s concept of proximities
Beverly Gordon
What are Beverly Gordon’s proximities
- intimate zone (6-8inches)
- personal zone (1.5 - 4 feet)
- social zone (4-12 feet)
- public zone (12 feet to end of visual range)
What does Katherine Grier argue
That through household furnishings victorian Americans participated in the construction of a middle class identity through an expanding world of consumer goods (could apply this theory to the Tudor period)