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Material Culture Caucus
The Material Culture Caucus is an interest-based gathering of scholars within the American Studies Association (ASA), the professional organization for American Studies in the United States. Formed in 1994, the caucus seeks to promote the place of material culture studies both within the larger context of American history and culture, and the specific activities of the ASA.
The Material Culture Caucus sponsors a growing range of activities designed to create an ongoing forum for members of the material culture community. We work to address and promote the common interests of scholars and students through a variety of initiatives, which presently include:
- Annual business meeting during the conference of the ASA (usually held in early November of each year). Since 1994 members of the caucus have gathered at each conference to plan the activities of the group for the coming year. Participation in the caucus is open to any interested member of the ASA. A steering committee works to carry out the goals of the caucus on an ongoing basis.
- Annual reception during the conference of the ASA. The reception, which is jointly sponsored with the Art History/Visual Culture caucus, presents an informal opportunity for interaction and collegiality among members of the caucus.
- Organizational advocacy. The Material Culture Caucus solicits and sponsors sessions relating to American material culture studies for inclusion in the program of the annual ASA conference. Likewise, the caucus seeks to promote an awareness of material culture through occasional columns in the ASA newsletter, with a presence on this Web site, and by maintaining ties with the ASA leadership.
- Educational and scholarly resources. Material culture study is still a specialized (though growing) field, and more and more scholars in related disciplines are making use of material cultural resources in their teaching and research. The caucus works to provide high-quality resources at a range of levels, to promote not only the use of material cultural resources, but a high level of scholarship in the area. To this end, the caucus sponsors:
- A moderated email discussion list, at the address artifact@listserv.umd.edu—please subscribe!
- A growing World Wide Web site that includes bibliographies, examples, and teaching guides http://www.otal.umd.edu/amst/artifact/index.html
The Material Culture Caucus is still an evolving intiative, and we would be delighted to hear your comments and suggestions. Please join!
Community Blog
Conference Call for Papers: Material Culture, Craft & Community
Keynote Speaker:
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Harvard University
Confirmed Speakers:
Eiluned Edwards, London College of Fashion, UK
Edward S Cooke, Yale University
Janice Helland, Queen’s University, Kingston
Laura Peers, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
Ruth Phillips, Carleton University, Ottawa
Call for Papers:
Paper proposals and full panels are invited on topics ranging from the history to present practice of craft, issues of production, use, and trade of craft, and the construction and interpretation of the meanings of craft, in the context of personal interactions, local communities, national groups, modes of international circulation, and forms of cultural context.
Graduate students are encouraged to apply with either single papers or panels. Three graduate proposals will be selected for a special graduate plenary session, in addition to those papers selected for concurrent sessions.
Proposals are invited from all disciplines. The proposal package should include a paper summary of 150-200 words and a two-page CV. Proposals should be received by 10 October 2010. The program will be announced 15 December 2010. Registration will open on 15 December 2010.
Beverly Lemire
Department of History & Classics and Department of Human Ecology
University of Alberta
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Categories:
Material Culture Caucus Business Meeting 2009
We meet this year on Thursday, November 5, 5:00-6:00 p.m., Renaissance DC Hotel Meeting Room 8. The agenda is posted here:
Reception at Hillwood Nov. 7
Please join the staff of Hillwood Museum, curator and ASA member Estella Chung, the Material Culture Caucus, and ASA colleagues for an open house and reception at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens (http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/) on Saturday, November 7. Open house from 2 p.m. onward; reception 4:30-6:30; presentation 4:30. Tickets may be purchased through the ASA’s online registration system (even if you have already registered for the conference) or, space permitting, on site at the conference through Friday November 6.
Call for Papers: Things in Common: Fostering Material Culture Ped
The guest editors of this special issue of Winterthur Portfolio invite essays that engage object-based teaching and interpretation strategies in a variety of sites, including the secondary and college classroom, the museum gallery, the collection, the historic site, the national park, the archaeological dig, the library, the archive, and the World Wide Web.
Significant Objects Project
At significantobjects.com a series of authors purchase thrift shop items, compose back stories for the items, and post them for sale on eBay (along with a printout of the story).
According to the curators:
“[S]ignificance” is such a hazy concept… [we] agreed that it would be both interesting and fun to set up an experiment in which significance was artificially cooked up under controlled conditions and applied to insignificant objects.
So far the authors have found some pretty funky objects! While we might not all agree that significance is a “hazy” concept, or that thrift shop items (read “ordinary” or “everyday”) are not significant, this exercise surely foregrounds the process of recontextualization of cultural artifacts over time.
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