ENG 604 Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies:
Material Culture
Spring 2006
| Beth Tobin | Maureen Daly Goggin |
Course Description: Material culture encompasses a wide range of objects, from pottery shards to ipods, and to study it requires a multi-disciplinary approach. Thus this course will engage a transdisciplinary approach to explore the diverse roles material objects play in the lives of individuals who design, create, circulate, consume and collect them. We will read a range of sociological and anthropological theories of production, exchange, and consumption, including works by Appadurai, Baudrillard, Benjaimin, Bourdieu, Freud, Douglas, Marx, Mauss, and Veblen. These will be accompanied by grounded, historically-specific case studies of particular objects. The course will be organized around the life-cycle of objects as they move through various social and economic contexts: design, production, commodification, circulation, consumption, valuation, identification, collection, and representation. Although our use of these categories to organize the course may imply that objects fall neatly into these categories and that objects march through this life cycle as if a natural progression, we will examine the ways in which objects are polysemic and multifunctional and can never be reduced to one simple category. We therefore will problematize the use of these categories and the notion of an object having a life-cycle. The goal of this course is to call attention to the way in which we talk about things, and we hope to stimulate lively debate about the conceptual categories we bring to bear on the social significance and meaning of objects.
Required Texts:
ENG 604 Course Pack [Available at Alternative Copies, located at 715 S. Forest. Phone: 480-829-7992]Requirements:
Assignments: Detailed descriptions of the following required assignments will be distributed:
- Two Abstracts 10%
- Scholarly Log on Key Terms 25%
- Oral Report on Selected Object 15%
- Conference Presentation 15%
- Seminar Paper 35%
Attendance and Participation: Because so much of what is to be learned in this course occurs in class, regular attendance is expected. The course is so constructed that even a few absences will create serious problems. Be prepared each class to offer comments and pose questions on the day’s assigned readings.
Late Assignments: Papers not turned in on the due date will be marked down a letter grade for each week the paper is late.
Plagiarism: We follow the CLAS and departmental policy on plagiarism. Students who plagiarize will receive a final grade of XE.
Incompletes: Please do not assume that an incomplete will be given upon request. University and departmental policy on the handling of incompletes will be followed; only in the case of verified emergencies and illnesses will an incomplete be given.
Withdrawal Deadlines:
Course Withdrawal (in Person) March 31
Course Withdrawal (ASU Interactive & Sundial) April 2
Complete Withdrawal May 2
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