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American Artifacts: Essays in Material Culture
When defining culture, one must indeed take into account even the minutest of details. What of a lighter, for example, or a telephone? The essays in this new collection examine just that. The contributors pose not only a historical, pragmatic use for the items, but also delve into more imaginative aspects of what defines us as Americans. Both the lighter and the telephone...more
Paperback, 255 pages
Published
October 31st 2000
by Michigan State University Press
(first published September 20th 2000)
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The Prownian method is a good start to material culture studies in that it forces the scholar or historian to get to know an oject, or commodity, at a nitty and gritty basic level: Why was this object made and what purpose does it serve? In that sense each object forms a bond, and/or connection, with the person who is studying it.
Yet, I gave the book two stars simply because it isn't enough. There is little to no contextual background of the object and thus every essay winds up being quite bias...more
Yet, I gave the book two stars simply because it isn't enough. There is little to no contextual background of the object and thus every essay winds up being quite bias...more
This book provides a useful introduction for how a person might go about writing about material objects in an evocative, yet informative way. As with all collections, the quality of each essay varies, but many of them provided at least one way of going about description that I wouldn't have otherwise thought about. Further, some of the objects that are written about are just fascinating: food mills, lighters, corsets. The book is also basic enough to make a good introductory or explanatory text...more
A really great book shows us how everything is great and worth to die for
Prownian method of looking at material culture studies.
-Objects analyzed through material culture methods of Jules Prown.
-Objects are studied, given outside reference, and then hypothesis is achieved based of study- objects become a way to understand the culture from which they come.
-Objects analyzed through material culture methods of Jules Prown.
-Objects are studied, given outside reference, and then hypothesis is achieved based of study- objects become a way to understand the culture from which they come.
Best essays in the book: 1923 Telephone, Haitian money box, Lava Lamp.
Several others were good, but I found those three to be profound.
Several others were good, but I found those three to be profound.
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