ANTH 5221 is also offered in Fall 2023
ANTH 5221 is also offered in Spring 2022
Fall 2018 | ANTH 5221 Section 001: Anthropology of Material Culture (34006)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- A-F or Audit
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person Term Based
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
UMTC, West Bank
Blegen Hall 318
- Enrollment Status:
Open (15 of 25 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- The course examines material culture as a social creation, studied from multiple theoretical and methodological perspectives (e.g., social anthropology, archaeology, primatology, history of science). The course examines the changing role of material culture from prehistory to the future.
- Class Notes:
- http://classinfo.umn.edu/?toste003+ANTH5221+Fall2018
- Class Description:
- The course examines material culture as a social creation, studied from multiple theoretical and methodological perspectives (e.g. social anthropology, archaeology, primatology, history of science). The course examines the changing role of material culture from prehistory to the future. From the odd trinket kept on the family mantelpiece to the offerings left at the Vietnam Memorial )not to mention the Wall itself), people feel the desire to commemorate and make physical many of the personal and societal events experienced in their lives. This is just one example of how material culture is a social creation. By examining the social aspect of the material culture in both past and present societies, one gains a better understanding of what it means to be human in a world in which the import of material culture appears to be increasing at an astronomical rate. In fact, this examination suggest that the human propensity to allocate social meaning to material objects actually played a pivotal role in the evolution of both the human brain and human social structures. This course explores many perspectives from which anthropologists study material culture. As the course explores material culture through three of the four subfields of anthropology, it serves as an excellent introduction to anthropological thought as well as an opportunity for more advanced students to broaden their research and theoretical horizons. Specifically, material culture will be viewed from the perspectives of social anthropology (particularly with regard to issues of social memory, commoditization, and cultural representation in museums), historical archaeology, prehistoric archaeology, the French ethnological school of technology, and primatology (with regard to the material culture of non-human primates). Readings will also explore how the disciplines of history of science, sociology of technology, and cognitive psychology contribute to the study of material culture. We will also engage the prevalent use of digital technology as an arena for social signaling, questioning whether our cultural behavior is now 'immaterial'. In all this course seeks to enrich students' conceptions of how humans articulate with the material world that we construct around ourselves and thus expand our understanding of humanity.
- Exam Format:
- in-class participation 20%, one in-class midterm
20%, 2 comment papers each worth 10%, a final cumulative exam 20%, and a research paper 20%.
- Class Format:
- 30% Lecture
50% Discussion
20% Other Style films
- Workload:
- 90 Pages Reading Per Week
10-15 Pages of Writing Per Term
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/34006/1189
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 4 April 2018
ClassInfo Links - Fall 2018 Anthropology Classes