Material Culture is vital to the study of history and
cultural anthropology. Jules Prown argues in "Mind in Matter" that
artifacts are the primary data for the study of material culture, and therefore
they can be used actively as evidence rather than passively as illustration.
Material culture is the object-based aspect of the study of culture. (5). In
"Furniture as Social History", Ulrich explains the gendered
embodiment of furniture of seventeenth century America. Furniture is described
as having ears, toes, arms, legs...even cheeks. She explains the subtle
parallels between kitchen utensils and a woman about to be wed - both are
considered "moveable objects", passed from one male-dominated
household to another. It seems that we are connected to our things in more ways
than we realize, and if we are so connected, why don't we as
historians engage with objects more in our work?
Tim Ingold in
"Materials Against Materiality" believes that we should get back to
the engagement with things that got
anthropologists interested in material culture in the first place. Instead of
just focusing our research on the artifacts, we should instead turn to the materials that make up things. We should touch them and engage with them - feel
the weight of a stone or the texture of a hide. Materials that are of the earth (hides,
wool, stone, iron, glass) give us opportunities to learn so much about
place, tradition, and environment. Materials are never understood apart from
their environment, or surroundings; they are used to make things, which are interpreted by the observer. The observer is
inherently part of that environment to which the object belongs. Ingold
believes we are missing a huge chunk of the big picture when we focus our studies on the materiality, rather
than the materials. Things, stuff, and artifacts are a direct sensory
experience with the past. Touching an object has the power to transport you
back through time and space to a different time, if only for a moment. Sam
Anderson gives the example of touching and experiencing material culture when
he visited potter Edmund de Waal in his New York Times article titled
"Edmund de Waal and the Strange Alchemy of Porcelain". Anderson was able to have an experience with
pottery, rather than simply view it. He felt the grooves of the bowls, and felt
the weight of the clay. De Waal describes this as "fundamental to the
human experience" (8).
"The underlying premise of material culture is that objects made or modified by man reflect, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, the beliefs of individuals who made, commissioned, purchased, or used them, and by extension the beliefs of the larger society to which they belonged" - Prown, 2.
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| Courtesy of Time Magazine {london.k12.oh.us} |
Carolyn Kitch also discusses this extension to larger
society in her article "Making Things Matter: The Material Value of Old
Media". She questions why we don't take seriously the preservation and use
of artifacts like magazines, post-cards, posters, and advertisements? Why are
they labeled "pop culture" and left to rot in attics and antique
stores? I personally feel most connected to items that happen to be understood
as merely "pop culture" artifacts. I believe that pop culture
artifacts most reflect the "beliefs
of the larger society to which they belonged". No single object can "speak for the whole", but what's more telling
of 1980's youth culture than a TV promo for MTV? Or a cigarette add from the 1950's. Even the iconic image of Charles
Manson on Time Magazine will live on to express the turmoil of the late 1960's
forever. I consider these types of objects my biggest allies. As a public
historian, I want to convey powerful moments in history through "pop
culture" artifacts because they are relatable, easy to understand, and evoke
nostalgia in most people. I see the value in these "popular" cultural
artifacts, and hopefully academic historians will "make the case" for
pop culture objects as well.
Courtesy of VHS Relics, {https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rd9d-JNWME}
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