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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
CFP: Color, Commerce, and Consumption in Global Historical Perspective
Conference at the German Historical Institute
Washington, DC
June 21 - 23, 2012
Convener: Regina Lee Blaszczyk
CFP: Nation Building: Craft and Contemporary American Culture
November 8-9, 2012
Renwick Gallery
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Paper submissions from senior and emerging scholars are invited for this symposium, which will examine craftâ€(tm)s increasingly urgent role within contemporary American culture. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Renwick Gallery, American Artâ€(tm)s branch museum for contemporary craft and decorative arts, this program seeks to broaden the dialogue surrounding craftâ€(tm)s recent histories, and to articulate rapid changes to the field since the advent of the current century.
Scholarship is invited that complicates our understanding of modern craft as a response to mass culture, and that probes the evolution of the field beyond the studio movement. Investigations of post-studio practice, craft education, “craftivism,” DIY (Do-It-Yourself) and Slow movements, converging practices in craft, design, and contemporary art, and shifting attitudes towards technology, skill, and materiality are welcome. How making engages gender, identity, class, politics, economics, the environment, and everyday life are also possible subjects of inquiry. The title of this symposium references modern craftâ€(tm)s history as a regenerative (and often political) force in society, but also Hannah Arendtâ€(tm)s assertion that what fundamentally distinguishes us as a species is our capacity for “world-building.” The value of craft as evidence of diverse human agency is at the heart of this project. Ultimately, this program seeks a pluralist view of craftâ€(tm)s impact on the contemporary American experience.
Please email a two-page, double-spaced abstract (300-500 words) and short C.V. to Nicholas R. Bell, the Fleur and Charles Bresler Curator of American Craft and Decorative Art at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Proposals must be received by April 2, 2012. Confirmed speakers will be required to submit the text of their 20-minute symposium presentations by October 8, 2012. A final text of the essay with endnotes will be due January 2, 2013, for possible publication in the symposium proceedings. The symposium will be available for viewing in a simultaneous and, later, an archived webcast.
Call For Papers: “Objects in Motion”
Material Culture Review (MCR) invites contributions to its special issue “Objects in Motion,” which takes up the 2011-2012 theme of Yale University’s Material Culture Study Group. A forum for scholars to engage with artifacts, ideas and methodologies, Yale’s Material Culture Study Group is currently exploring the ways that the movement, dispersion, renewal or adaptation of cultural objects shapes our relationships with material and social practices. Movement, in this sense, is not confined to a set of prescribed spatial parameters; some objects of focus traverse transnational boundaries (as is the case within today’s globalized economy) while others are examined for their movement between or within local contexts. Some are designed or adapted for portability inside the domestic sphere. Extending this dialogue, we invite a broad range of papers that consider how objects accrue cultural meaning through their mobility.
Topics may include, but are not restricted to the following themes:
- Accumulation / circulation of objects within private or institutional collections
- Cultures of repurposing, re-using or “up-cycling” goods
- Histories of Design and Decorative Arts as they relate to mobility
- Impact of commodity flows on localized cultures
- Architectural adaptations, renovations and revitalizations
- Dissemination of knowledge through print cultures
- Cross-cultural material exchange / encounter
- Circulation of knowledge through intangible cultural heritage
- Social impacts of transportation technologies
- Souvenirs and cultural tourism
Contributors from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds are invited to submit articles, research reports or exhibition reviews that address the theme of “Objects in Motion.”
The deadline for an expression of interest, consisting of a 300-word abstract and CV, is January 31, 2012. Completed work will be due April 15, 2012. Information about formatting and submission can be found at: http://culture.cbu.ca/mcr/submissions.html
Material Culture Review is distributed to over 250 universities, libraries, research institutions and museums in 15 countries. MCR seeks to provide a venue for refereed articles and reports encompassing a range of approaches to interpret culture through an analysis of peopleâ€(tm)s relationships with their material world. For more information, please visit: http://culture.cbu.ca/mcr
Material Culture Caucus Call for Proposals, ASA 2012
The Material Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association wishes to encourage participation in the 2012 Annual meeting: “Dimensions of Empire and Resistance: Past, Present, and Future, November 15-18, 2012, San Juan, Puerto Rico. To read the conference Call for Papers please see: http://www.theasa.net/annual_meeting/page/submit_a_proposal/
In an effort to get more strong material culture-related papers and panels on the program we hope to help link potential panelists with shared interests in material culture topics. If you, your colleagues, or doctoral students may be looking to connect with others with similar interests please email us your panel CFP or your paper idea and we will work to connect similar panelists and papers. We are also happy to offer suggestions on complete panels. We especially encourage a panel, poster series, or other proposal with relevance to the conference location in Puerto Rico.
We will make every effort to help connect interested potential panelists and panel conveners who contact us. NB: All interested parties who email us will still be responsible for following all posted instructions (http://www.theasa.net/annual_meeting/page/submit_a_proposal/) submitting their own panels or papers to the ASA by the ASA deadline (January 26, 2012).
After submitted panels are reviewed and selected by the ASA, the Material Culture Caucus will select one of those panels as the official Caucus-sponsored panel, and will publicize related papers and panels.
If you are interested, please submit your ideas or abstracts to Sarah Carter (scarter at fas dot harvard dot edu) and to Bess Williamson (bess dot williamson at gmail dot com) as soon as possible.
Best wishes,
Sarah Anne Carter and Bess Williamson
Material Culture at ASA 2011
Please join the Material Culture Caucus at ASA in Baltimore for our Friday sponsored sessions, business meeting, and reception. We especially invite graduate students and anyone newly interested in material culture—as well as our old friends—to join us, and to help plan our future activities.
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