. This is developed through the concept of objectification, which is central to many studies of material culture—albeit differently conceived dependent upon the disciplinary and theoretical stance taken—which explores the intertwined, and often dialectic, relationships between people and things.
Material culture is more than just the interactions of the people associated with that culture and deploys various concepts to determine the behavior the people conveyed.
Although material culture studies cross many disciplines, there are still theories, methods, and perspectives that are firmly located within particular disciplines.
Some aspects of material culture transcend boundaries while others are limited to the scope of their field.
There is also a concern with how objects “move” between domains and different value systems as the practices and meanings surrounding physically changing objects themselves change.
Is it possible for the significance that these objects may hold to ultimately change over a period of time or are they resolved to stay stagnant ?
Within this field, empirical research explores specific genres of material culture, such as food or clothing, and empirical and theoretical work extends this to consider categories of objects, such as gifts and commodities, as situated within wider systems of exchange.
Can these different types of objects present different interpretations or are these objects set in stone in the matter they reveal cultural notions ?
contestation
The act of arguing or debating.
Understandings of material culture have been central to anthropology since its inception; during the late 19th and early 20th century anthropologists primarily collected material culture (Kroeber, Boas) that was displayed in museums in Europe and North America
Items discovered by Anthropologist could possibly bring forth how they lived, died, or how their society functioned for instance when Anthropologists unearth ancient tools such as spearheads.
Material Culture by
I am examining this text in conjunction with Haltman's "Introduction to American Artifacts". I chose this text because of the fact that its rationale is similar to Haltman's. Haltman's rationale, that artifacts and items and other physical elements all bear a certain cultural meaning to them and that through a structured process, one can grasp the aspects associated with that item.
nstead, culture and society are seen as being created and reproduced by the ways in which people make, design, and interact with objects. It also challenges the assumption, perpetuated by disciplinary divisions and also philosophical trajectories, that the object and subject are separate, wherein the latter is assumed to be immaterial, and the former is assumed to be inert and passive.
Sophie Woodman establishes her stance that this preconceived notion is nothing but false. Artifacts and objects alike can have a multitude of meanings and underlying cultural aspects that exist within that object. Haltman himself though has vouched that the process of recognizing these aspects take repetitious action and a thorough game plan.
Allobjectssignify;somesignifymoreexpressivelythanothers.Asthelistofobjectsstudiedoverthecourseoftimeinasingleuniversityseminarattests,thepossibilitiesarevirtuallylimitless-especiallyconsideringthatnotwoindividualswillreadagivenobjectinthesameway.
To observe the idea that an object contains an infinite amount of meaning, concerning the context of its use brings me back around to What Is A Machete, Anyway? written by John Cline, an article circulating the significant meaning behind the machete-- a sharp, long knife. Historically, the machete was created to benefit those within the agricultural world, not to be used as a merciless weapon to end the lives of dozens, or even as a way of war against an oppressor, but because of the limited assets these people had they resulted to using the closest resource they could.
Whileonlysomeofculturetakesmaterialform,thepartthatdoesrecordstheshapeandimprintofotherwisemoreabstract,conceptual,orevenmetaphysicalaspectsofthatculturethattheyquiteliterallyembody
When fixating on this portion of the text, Cline's What Is a Machete, Anyways? comes to mind. Through medieval times, Communist Cuba, a Nicaragua revolution, and a Rwandan genocide the machete took many forms to suit what the farmers or aggressors needed. It moved through stages too, the meaning behind the object changing as time progressed. From a tool for crop season, a weapon of cheap mass destruction, or a symbol of the end of a horrendous white reign over the Hispanics.
Essays in Material Culture
For my comparison, I analyzed What Is a Machete, Anyway?, an article written by John Cline in where the author explores the many forms a machete-- an artifact used for centuries in several societies-- has become either a symbol, a tool, or a weapon to those who have come across it.