Chp 14 Materality: Constructing Social Relationships and Meanings with Things

Material culture

________ includes objects made and used in any society.

Anthropologist Robert Welsch

________ observed the symbolic power of what would seem to us a commonplace object (a hat) on the island of Walis along the north coast of Papua New Guinea in 1993.

George W Stocking

________, Jr. (1985), suggested seven dimensions through which we can examine art: height, width, depth, time (history), power, wealth, and aesthetics.

NAGPRA

________ calls for the repatriation of human remains and artifacts to the families of the dead.

Anthropologists

________ take objects seriously and consider all the ways people use them to communicate with others, define themselves, and control others.

Slack Farm

The 1987 ________ incident, where private looters destroyed an Indian burial site near Uniontown, Kentucky, galvanized support from anthropologists and archaeologists for legislatino that would protect material culture.

Dawes Act

The 1887 ________ allowed for lands on Indian reservations to be sold to non- Indian owners.

Cultural resource management

________ is research and planning aimed at identifying, interpreting, and protecting sites and artifacts of historic or prehistoric importance.

display of objects

People express themselves through the possession and ________.

Aesthetics

________ is the recognition that different individuals and groups find different patterns ________ pleasing.

US anthropology

________ began in museums, focusing on collections of cultural, archaeological, linguistic, and biological data.

Wealth

________ reflects the fact that objects can be used to display ________ and social status.

physical dimensions

The bike has ________ (it must be useable by an average- sized human) but may also be viewed as an expression of artistry.

Materiality

________- having the quality of being physical or material.

American Indian Movement

________ (AIM)- the most prominent and one of the earliest American Indian activist groups, founded in 1968.

Native American Graves Protection

________ and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)- the 1990 law that established the ownership of human remains, grave goods, and important cultural objects as belonging to the Native Americans whose ancestors once owned them.

Heritage Sites

World ________ program- A UNESCO- run program that provides financial support to maintain sites of importance to humanity.

individual qualities of taste

People define and express who they are through consumption: their social status, economic means, gender identities, aesthetic sensibilities, ________ and discernment, and identification with a certain social class or interest group.

Culture of mass

________ consumption- the cultural perspectives and social processes that shape and are shaped by how goods and services are bought, sold, and used in contemporary capitalism.

Powerful people

________ in any culture can use aesthetics to demonstrate and legitimate their social, political, or religious power.

basic dimensions

The ________ of height, width, and depth are physical measurements.

Materiality

________ is the quality of being physical or material.

Material culture

________- the objects made and used in any society.

Cultural resource management

________ (CRM)- research and planning aimed at identifying, interpreting, and protecting sites and artifacts of historic or prehistoric significance.

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20 PM EST

This chapter focuses on the question

What is the role of objects and material culture in constructing social relationships and cultural meanings

See "Anthropologist as Problem-Solver

John Terrell, Repatriation, and the Maori House at the Field Museum."

George W. Stocking, Jr. (1985), suggested seven dimensions through which we can examine art

height, width, depth, time (history), power, wealth, and aesthetics

Time (history) refers to an objects individual history

where it came from, how interpretationns have changed through time

This seemingly out-of-place object had great significance

it was Barjanis hat and, as a European hat, a symbolic reminder of his prediction

Like people, objects have careers with recognizable phases

creation, exchange, uses, and discard

The shoes pass through many sets of hands between production and "consumption" (we dont eat the shoes)

manufacture, packaging, transport, and so on

Many of use are part of a culture of mass consumption

a term that refers to the cultural perspectives and social processes that shape and are shaped by how goods and services are bought, sold, and used in contemporary capitalism

American Indian Movement (AIM) 

the most prominent and one of the earliest American Indian activist groups, founded in 1968

Cultural resource management (CRM) 

research and planning aimed at identifying, interpreting, and protecting sites and artifacts of historic or prehistoric significance

Culture of mass consumption 

the cultural perspectives and social processes that shape and are shaped by how goods and services are bought, sold, and used in contemporary capitalism

Material culture 

the objects made and used in any society

Materiality

having the quality of being physical or material

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) 

the 1990 law that established the ownership of human remains, grave goods, and important cultural objects as belonging to the Native Americans whose ancestors once owned them

Repatriation

the return of human remains or cultural artifacts to the communities of descendants of the people to whom they originally belonged

World Heritage Sites program 

A UNESCO-run program that provides financial support to maintain sites of importance to humanity