Deborah A. Wold
(Deb)
Public Historian
Museum Professional. Material Culture Steward. Historic Foodways Academic.
Material Culture
“Material culture...is not culture but its product. Culture is socially transmitted rules for behavior, ways of thinking about and doing things... Material culture is...that sector of our physical environment that we modify through culturally determined behavior.”
James Deetz,
In Small Things Forgotten
Learning Outcomes
1. Students will become familiar with the current scholarly literature about the methods and theories of studying material culture.
2. Students will be able to identify the methods by which scholars from different academic disciplines (e.g., history, anthropology, archaeology, folklore, art history, women’s studies, history of technology, and cultural studies) analyze and utilize material culture in their studies.
3. Students will demonstrate the ability to analyze and interpret material culture orally and in writing.
4. Students will conduct original research utilizing artifacts or other primary sources related to material culture and will situate their research within the context of material culture scholarship.
5. Students will develop and support an argument and demonstrate clear analytical writing skills through the preparation of an essay that uses original primary sources.
6. Students will analyze how museums and other public history venues use and interpret material culture.
Book List
Tie for most influential book. All That She Carried shows how to write a story with an artifact as the main character. More Work for Mother was eye opening showing how improvement on technology was a bittersweet situation for women.
Benefits
What I discovered while taking the class.
