Anth 196C: Anthropology of Stuff
Assignment #3: Making Meanings for Objects
Due in class 3/16/05
In this assignment, you should demonstrate that you have read and understood THREE OR FOUR of our
readings from the first half of the semester. This assignment is 20% of your final grade, so you should
approach it as a midterm designed to demonstrate how what you have learned so far in the semester.
Please do not use the same articles you used for your second assignment.
You have THREE options for answering the question. Please choose only ONE option and follow the
directions for that option. For this assignment, you will be graded on:
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How well you fulfilled the assignment (followed directions)
How well you demonstrated understanding of each of the readings you discuss, and how well the
readings relate to one another.
How well you apply the readings in fulfilling the assignment
The originality of your approach (in other words, you will receive less credit for a “book report”
and more credit for offering your own “take” and discussing the readings in depth.)
The quality of the writing, including writing mechanics (spelling, grammar) as well as clarity and
style.
Your essay should be no shorter than 5 pages and no longer than 7 pages.
Option 1: Contextualizing objects
For this option, go to the “Collecting the Body” exhibit at the Fleming Museum. Use your experience of
the exhibit as a “jumping-off point” to discuss how objects can reflect and “enact” (bring to life) cultural
ideas and ideals. You can focus, as the exhibit does, on cultural ideas and ideals surrounding the body,
but you can also discuss social ideals, aesthetic ideals, or other cultural ideals. Be sure to use concrete
examples from the exhibit or your own observations. In discussing your interpretations, be sure to bring
in examples or theories from AT LEAST THREE of the articles we read in weeks 1-9.
Option 2: Objects Shaping Experience
For this option, you must do some ethnographic fieldwork to answer the question: How do physical
aspects of objects contribute to our interpretation or experience of those same objects? Once again, you
may find the “Collecting the Body” a good place to begin, however, you may also want to focus on how
architecture or the design of everyday objects also shape our experiences. Be sure to focus in on a
SINGLE OBJECT as an example of how the physical qualities of objects themselves shape experience.
Then consider how the physical qualities of objects also reflect cultural values (such as aesthetic or
ideological values). Be sure to bring in examples or theories from AT LEAST THREE of the articles we
read in weeks 1-9.
Option 3: All about the articles
For this option, use AT LEAST FOUR of the articles we read in weeks 1-9 to answer the question: How
do people make cultural meanings for objects? To answer the question, you should find a theme, for
example “the meaning of objects in maintaining social relations,” “the meaning of how objects are
produced” or “the symbolic meaning of objects.” Then find four articles that touch on that theme, and
discuss how the articles relate both to the theme, and each other. What commonalities and differences in
how people make meaning for objects do you see across the different cultures cited in the articles you
chose?