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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
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 peopleā(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.
ASA 2011: The Multisensory Nature of Material Encounters
I want to call your attention to a new web site and opportunity to participate in discussion:
http://warandvisceralimagination.wordpress.com/
The site, which supports the “War and the Visceral Imagination” panel session at the 2011 American Studies Association conference, serves as an interdisciplinary conversation space about how we might better study the political and social ramifications of multisensory experiences of the material world. So, while the panel itself focuses on embodied experiences of the material within the context of U.S. wartime cultures, we are interested in hearing from those working on any aspect of material culture’s role in affective, embodied experience.
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Material Culture Caucus Business Meeting 2010
Join us for the annual Material Culture Caucus Business Meeting, Friday, 19 November 2009, 4:00-5:00 pm, in Grand Hyatt Travis AB. The agenda is posted here:
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