Human Ecology 662
Themes in Material Culture
Winter Term 2014
Wednesday 1:00-3:50
Instructors:
Arlene Oak, Human Ecology, Arlene.Oak@ualberta.ca
Human Ecology 312
492 5686; Office hours to be announced.
Course Description
This course introduces a range of topics arising from and related to the study of material
culture. This will include theory and research from a range of perspectives and disciplines
that explore relationships between material objects and people. Some specific issues
addressed include:
The course covers issues concerning historical and contemporary topics, led respectively
by the two instructors.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course students should:
- Understand interrelationships between a range of topics and approaches in material
culture studies;
- Recognize some of the approaches and significant themes of specific material culture
research paradigms (e.g. history, anthropology, sociology);
- Identify and critically evaluate modes of research, data collection, and analysis with
regard to a range of approaches in material culture studies;
- Integrate relevant topics, approaches, and themes into your own research in the area of
material culture;
- Present your own research on material culture in oral and written formats.
Mark Distribution:
Participation – 50 %
Participation will include various short writing assignments, as well as oral
presentations and participation over the course of the seminar.
Essay & oral presentation – 50%
Oak: - summaries: Each member of the seminar group will be asked to summarize and
critically discuss one or more readings. A printed version will also be submitted.
Alternatively or additionally, on selected weeks students may be asked to complete a
short assignment and/or discuss it in class. Such assignments will be distributed in class,
via email, or on eClass.
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Essay & presentation: Each member of the seminar will select a topic in consultation
with an instructor and ensure that the topic contains a substantial material element. This
topic will be assessed in conjunction with study of the requisite material and a final essay
prepared. Further instructions will be forthcoming.
Recording is permitted only with the prior written consent of the professor or if recording
is part of an approved accommodation plan.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Course Schedule:
Week 1 – 8 January 2014
Introduction to Material Culture Studies:
Presenting & interpreting Material Culture: Manufactured Landscapes
--------------------------------------------Week 2 – 15 January 2014
Issues: Objects & Language
Kingerly, David (ed.) (1996) Learning from Things: Method and Theory in Material
Culture Studies, Chapter 1: David Kingerly, Introduction; Chapter 2: Jules Prown,
Materia/Culture: Can the Farmer and the Cowman Still be Friends?
Miller, Daniel (1987) Material Culture and Mass Consumption, Chapter 7: Artefacts in
their contexts, 110-130.
Woolgar, Steve (2002) After Word: On Some Dynamics of Duality Interrogation, Or,
Why Bonfires are not Enough, Theory Culture and Society, Vol 19, 5/6, 261-270 (esp.
261-265).
-----------------------------------------------------Week 3 – 22 January 2011
Approaching objects 1: History & cultural studies
Hebdige, Dick (1988), Hiding in the Light, Chapter 4: Object as Image: The Italian
Scooter Cycle, 77-115.
Laurel Ulrich, “Of Pens and Needles: Sources in Early American Women’s History” The
Journal of American History 77:1 (1990) pp. 200-207.
Ann Smart Martin, “Makers, Buyers and Users: Consumerism as a Material Culture
Framework” Winterthur Portfolio 28:2/3 (1993), 141-57.
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Giorgio Riello, “Things that Shape History: Material Culture and Historical Narrative” in
Karen Harvey, ed., History and Material Culture: A Student’s Guide to Approaching
Alternative Sources (London: Routledge, 2009), chapter 1.
* Richard Grassby, “Material Culture and Cultural History” Journal of Interdisciplinary
History 35:4 (2005).
* Karen Harvey, “Barbarity in a Teacup? Punch, Domesticity and Gender in the
Eighteenth Century” Journal of Design History 21:3 (2008), pp. 205-221.
Dant, Tim (1999) Material Culture in the Social World, Open University Press,
Introduction: The Cairn and the Mini-Strip, pp. 1-16
--------------------------------------------------------Week 4 – 29 January 2014
Approaching objects 2: Psychology, sociology, anthropology
Dant, Tim (2004) The Driver-car, Theory, Culture & Society, 21(4/5), 61-79.
Norman, Donald (1998) The Design of Everyday Things, Chapter 1: The
Psychopathology of Everyday Things, 1-33.
Ucko, Peter (1969) Penis Sheaths: A Comparative Study, Proceedings of the Royal
Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, pp. 27-67.
------------------------------------------------------Week 5 – 5 February 2014
Production
---------------------------------------------------------Week 6 – 12 February 2014
Mediation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------READING WEEK 17-22 February 2014
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 8 – 26 February 2014
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Consumption
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Week 9 – 5 March 2014
Organizing objects
Baudrillard
Barthes
----------------------------------------------------------------------Week 10 – 12 March 2014
Networking objects
Latour, B. (1999) Circulating Reference: Sampling the soil in the Amazon Forest, in B.
Latour, Pandora’s Hope: Essays on the reality of science studies, pp. 24-79.
Russel, I. (2007) Objects and agency: Some obstacles and opportunities of Modernity,
Journal of Iberian archaeology, 9/10,
http://www.tara.tcd.ie/jspui/bitstream/2262/8698/1/objectsandagency.pdf
Lynch, M. DeKanting Agency: Comments on Bruno Latour’s ‘On Interobjectivity’,
Mind, Culture, and Activity, 3 (4), 246-251
Shiga, J. (2007) Translations: Artifacts from an Actor-Network perspective, Artifact, 1
(1), 40-55.
Spyer, Patricia (ed.) (1998) Border Fetishisms, Chapter 7, Peter Stallybrass: Marx’s Coat,
183-207
--------------------------------------------------------------Week 11 – 19 March 2014
Material Culture, the Body
Twigg, Julia (2004) The Body, Gender, and Age: Feminist insights in social gerontology,
Journal of Aging Studies, 18, 59-73.
Tyner, Keila and Jennifer Paff Ogle (2007), Feminist Perspectives on Dress and the
Body: An Analysis of Ms. Magazine, 1972 to 2002, Clothing and Textiles Research
Journal, 25, 74-105.
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Grove-White, Annie (2001) No Rules, Only Choices? Repositioning the self within the
fashion system in relation to expertise and meaning: A case study of colour and image
consultancy, Journal of Material Culture, 6, 193-211.
Joanne Entwistle (2002) The Aesthetic Economy: The production of value in the field of
fashion modelling, Journal of Consumer Culture, 2/3, 317-339.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------Week 12 – 26 March 2014
Material Culture & Performances
Entwistle, Joanne and Agnes Rocamora (2006) The Field of Fashion Materialized: A
study of London Fashion Week, Sociology, 40 (4), 735-751.
Haldrup, Michael and Jonas Larsen (2006) Material Cultures of Tourism, Leisure Studies,
25 (3), 275-289.
Parrot, Fiona (2005) ‘It’s Not Forever’: The Material Culture of Hope, Journal of
Material Culture, 10, 245-262.
------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 13 – 2 April 2011
Student presentations
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 14 – 9 April 2011
Student Presentations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Course Policies:
Special Needs
If you have personal and/or academic special needs (e.g. learning disabilities, physical disabilities,
language-comprehension problems, etc.), please notify the instructors at the start of the course.
Special arrangements for assignments can only be provided with documentation of special needs.
Reading and preparation
The schedule tells you what readings need to be completed for each class. You should be prepared
to discuss assigned readings at each class.
Computers and electronic devices
Please do not use computers during class unless you have discussed their use with the instructors.
Also, please ensure all electronic devices (phones, Blackberries, etc.) are turned off during class.
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Attendance
If you miss a class, you are still responsible for material covered and for being aware of any special
announcements or assignments. Class attendance and participation are important. It is expected
that you will attend regularly and participate in class discussions. Instructors do not need to be
informed if you miss a class.
Contacting instructors:
Generally email is best.
Please include in your email’s subject heading this course number (HECOL 666) and please USE
YOUR UofA EMAIL ADDRESS!!!
If your email message is urgent, please indicate this in the subject heading.
Essay Lateness due to illness
If an assignment is late due to illness and consequent abscence, a doctor’s certificate or note is
required within three days of your return. If there are other personal matters that prevent you from
handing in an assignment on time you should inform the instructors as soon as possible by email.
Grading guidelines:
Descriptor
Outstanding
Excellent
Superior
Letter Grade Point Value
A+
4
98-100%
A
4
94-97
A3.7
90-93
At A level there is superior performance that
demonstrates complexity, depth, and clear
achievement of all assignment requirements.
Very good
Good
Commendable
B+
B
B-
3.3
3.0
2
85-89
80-84
75-79
At B level there is good knowledge of the
subject matter with most requirements met.
Satisfactory
Competent
Just adequate
C+
C
C-
2.3
2.0
1.7
70-74
65-69
60-64
At C level there is basic competency in
reaching most requirements.
Poor
Minimal Pass
D+
D
1.3
1.0
55-59
50-54
At D level there is marginal competency
in reaching assignment requirements.
Fail
F
0
49& below Does not meet requirements.
Benchmarks for GPA on the four-point scale:
3.5: Distinction
2.0: Satisfactory
1.7 – 1.9: Marginal Standing
1.6 and below: Required to withdraw (RTW)
Student Services:
There are many student services available to you, please see the following link for more
information http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/studentservices/
Ethical Issues:
Intellectual Honesty/Plagiarism
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In all academic work, you must acknowledge ideas, information and statements that are
not your own--both to avoid the charge of plagiarism and to enable a reader to go to your
sources if she/he wishes to read further. This includes any and all Internet material.
The Centre 4 Writers and Academic Support Services offer one-on-one tutorials and a
range of other resources that deal with how to avoid plagiarism. (They also cover other
issues that are relevant to writing academic papers, dissertations - including conducting
research effectively, time management, etc.)
University policies concerning plagiarism are found in the General Faculties Council
Policy Manual section 61.6 (University of Alberta Marking and Grading Guidelines) and
in the University of Alberta Course Calendar in section 23.4 (Evaluation Procedures and
Grading Systems). The GFC Policy Manual and the Calendar can be accessed through the
UofA home page.
Plagiarism, Cheating, Misrepresentation of Facts and Participation are Offences. These are viewed as
serious academic offences by the University and by the Campus Law Review Committee (CLRC) of General
Faculties Council. Sanctions for such offences range from a reprimand to suspension or expulsion from the
University.
Please familiarize yourselves with the Code of Student Behaviour at
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/secretariat/
The Code is also available in hard copy from the University Secretariat, 2-5 University Hall, Telephone: 24965. All students are required to be familiar with the code. 30.3.2
Please especially note the following:
30.3.2(1) Plagiarism
No Student shall submit the words, ideas, images or data of another person as the Student’s own in any
academic writing, essay, thesis, project, assignment, presentation or poster in a course or program of study.
30.3.2(2) Cheating
30.3.2(2) No Student shall in the course of an examination or other similar activity, obtain or attempt to
obtain information from another Student or other unauthorized source, give or attempt to give information to
another Student, or use, attempt to use or possess for the purposes of use any unauthorized material.
30.3.2(2) No Student shall represent or attempt to represent him or herself as another or have or attempt to
have himself or herself represented by another in the taking of an examination, preparation of a paper or
other similar activity. See also misrepresentation in 30.3.6 (4).
30.3.2(2) No Student shall represent another’s substantial editorial or compositional assistance on an
assignment as the Student’s own work.
30.3.2(2) No Student shall submit in any course or program of study, without the written approval of the
course Instructor, all or a substantial portion of any academic writing, essay, thesis, research report, project,
assignment, presentation or poster for which credit has previously been obtained by the Student or which has
been or is being submitted by the Student in another course or program of study in the University or
elsewhere.
30.3.2(2) No Student shall submit in any course or program of study any academic writing, essay, thesis,
report, project, assignment, presentation or poster containing a statement of fact known by the Student to be
false or a reference to a source the Student knows to contain fabricated claims (unless acknowledged by the
Student), or a fabricated reference to a source.
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