Contextual studies of material culture

Contextual studies of material culture
Author: David W. Zimmerly
Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
Total Pages: 68
Release: 1978-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 177282206X

A selection of papers focusing on a contextual assessment of Native material culture research plus commentary on the current state of such studies and identification of possible future trends.

Asian Material Culture

Asian Material Culture
Author: Marianne Hulsbosch
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2009
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9089640908

This richly illustrated volume offers the reader unique insight into the materiality of Asian cultures and the ways in which objects and practices can simultaneously embody and exhibit aesthetic and functional characteristics, as well as everyday and spiritual aspirations. Though each chapter is representative, rather than exhaustive, in its portrayal of Asian material culture, together they clearly demonstrate that objects are entities that resonate with discourses of human relationships, personal and group identity formations, ethics, values, trade, and, above all, distinctive futures.

Mobility, Meaning and Transformations of Things

Mobility, Meaning and Transformations of Things
Author: Hans Peter Hahn
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2013-01-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1782970843

Things travel around the globe: they are shipped as mass consumer goods, or transported as souvenirs or gifts. There are infinite ways for things to be mobile, not only in the era of globalisation but since the beginning of time, as the earliest traces of long distance trading show. This book investigates the mobility of things from archaeological and anthropological perspectives. Material Objects are characterised by temporal continuity, embodying a prior existence with lingering effects. Yet the material continuity disguises the transformations they may undergo, which only become evident upon closer examination. Objects are in perpetual flux, leaving visible traces of their age, usage, and previous life. While travelling through time, objects also circulate through space, and their spatial mobility alters their meaning and use with respect to new cultural horizons. As objects transform through time and space, so does the value attributed to them. Mapping out itineraries of value in the realm of the material, allows us to grasp the nature of a given social formation through the shape and meaning taken on by its valued 'stuff'. It also provides insights into the nature of materiality, through the value ascribed to objects at a given point in time and space. This edited volume brings together studies of material culture, materiality and value, with regard to the mobility of objects, with the aim of tracing the ways in which societies constitute their valued objects and how the realm of the material reflects upon society.

Cultural Histories of the Material World

Cultural Histories of the Material World
Author: Peter N. Miller
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2013-07-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 0472118919

All across the humanities fields there is a new interest in materials and materiality. This is the first book to capture and study the “material turn” in the humanities from all its varied perspectives. Cultural Histories of the Material World brings together top scholars from all these different fields—from Art History, Anthropology, Archaeology, Classics, Folklore, History, History of Science, Literature, Philosophy—to offer their vision of what cultural history of the material world looks like and attempt to show how attention to materiality can contribute to a more precise historical understanding of specific times, places, ways, and means. The result is a spectacular kaleidoscope of future possibilities and new perspectives.

Thesis and dissertation titles and abstracts on the anthropology of Canadian Indians, Inuit and Metis from Canadian universities

Thesis and dissertation titles and abstracts on the anthropology of Canadian Indians, Inuit and Metis from Canadian universities
Author: René R. Gadacz
Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
Total Pages: 142
Release: 1984-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1772822582

Abstracts of Master’s and Doctoral thesis completed at Canadian universities between 1970-1982 dealing with ethnographic, archaeological, linguistic, and physical anthropological topics relevant to Canada’s Native peoples.

The Oxford Handbook of Material Culture Studies

The Oxford Handbook of Material Culture Studies
Author: Dan Hicks
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 794
Release: 2010-09-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0199218714

Written by an international team of experts, the Handbook makes accessible a full range of theoretical and applied approaches to the study of material culture, and the place of materiality in social theory, presenting current thinking about material culture from the fields of archaeology, anthropology, geography, and science and technology studies.

The Present Past

The Present Past
Author: Ian Hodder
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2012-11-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1781591725

This updated edition of Professor Ian Hodder’s original and classic work on the role which anthropology must play in the interpretation of the archaeological record. There has long been a need for archaeologists and anthropologists to correlate their ideas and methods for interpreting the material culture of past civilisations. Archaeological interpretation of the past is inevitably based on the ideas and experiences of the present and the use of such ethnographic analogy has been widely adapted – and criticised, not least in Britain. In this challenging study, Ian Hodder questions the assumptions, values and methods which have been too readily accepted. At the same time, he shows how anthropology can be applied to archaeology. He examines the criteria for the proper use of analogy and, in particular, emphasises the need to consider the meaning and interpretation of material cultures within the total social and cultural contexts. He discusses anthropological models of refuse deposits, technology and production, subsistence, settlement, burial, trade exchange, art form and ritual; he then considers their application to comparable archaeological data. Throughout, Professor Hodder emphasises the need for a truly scientific approach and a critical self-awareness by archaeologists, who should be prepared to study their own social and cultural context, not least their own attitudes to the present-day material world.

Integrating Critical and Contextual Studies in Art and Design

Integrating Critical and Contextual Studies in Art and Design
Author: Jenny Rintoul
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2016-11-18
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317193202

Integrating Critical and Contextual Studies in Art and Design examines the relationship between two aspects of art education that appear at times inseparable or even indistinguishable, and at others isolated and in conflict: Critical and Contextual Studies (CCS) and studio practice. Underpinned by international contexts, this book is rooted in British art and design education and draws upon contemporary case studies of teaching and learning in post-compulsory settings in order to analyse and illustrate identities and practices of CCS and its integration. The chapters in this book are divided into three sections that build on one another: ‘Discourse and debate’; ‘Models, types and tensions’; and ‘Proposals and recommendations’. Key issues include: knowledge hierarchies and subject histories and identities; constructions of ‘theory’ and the symbiotic relationship between theory and practice; models and practices of CCS within current post-compulsory British art and design education; the reification of ubiquitous terms in the fields of art and design and of education: intuition and integration; approaches to curriculum integration, including design and management; and suggestions for integrating CCS in art and design courses, including implications for pedagogy and assessment. Integrating Critical and Contextual Studies in Art and Design offers a comprehensive analysis of the current drive towards integration within art education, and elucidates what we understand by the theory and practice of integration. It explores the history, theory, teaching and student experience of CCS, and will be of interest to lecturers, teachers and pedagogues involved in art and design as well as researchers and students of art education.

Edward Sapir's correspondence

Edward Sapir's correspondence
Author: Louise Dallaire
Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 1984-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1772822604

An alphabetical and chronological guide to the professional correspondence of anthropologist Edward Sapir during his tenure as Head of the Anthropology Division of the Geological Survey of Canada (1910-1925).

History through material culture

History through material culture
Author: Leonie Hannan
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2017-04-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1526112922

History through material culture is a unique, step-by-step guide for students and researchers who wish to use objects as historical sources.Responding to the significant, scholarly interest in historical material culture studies, this book makes clear how students and researchers ready to use these rich material sources can make important, valuable and original contributions to history.Written by two experienced museum practitioners and historians, the book recognises the theoretical and practical challenges of this approach and offers clear advice on methods to get the best out of material culture research. With a focus on the early modern and modern periods, this volume draws on examples from across the world and demonstrates how to use material culture to answer a range of enquiries, including social, economic, gender, cultural and global history.