AMS 21: Objects and Everyday Life
Summer Session I, 2005
Instructor: Leslie Madsen-Brooks
e-mail: ljmadsen@ucdavis.edu
Office hours: 3-4 MW & by appt.
Mailbox: 2134A Hart Hall
Course description
Frequently, objects reveal as much, or more, about a culture as do the stories and other texts produced by it. In this course, we will learn to analyze objects to determine what they might tell us about about American culture. In addition to looking at everyday objects, we will look at the way artifacts are displayed in museums, and we’ll talk to average people who collect objects to see what they reveal about American culture.
This course requires you to think critically and imaginatively about the objects you encounter everyday. I hope you find the process both challenging and fun.
Course materials
Second Hand by Michael Zadoorian
Course reader, available at Navin’s
Course requirements
The day-to-day requirements of this class are simple: do the required reading, reflect on it, and come to class prepared to engage in thoughtful discussion.
Reading responses
To prepare yourself to participate in class, I ask you to type up one or two paragraphs on the day’s reading assignments. These paragraphs should engage with issues in the readings rather than summarize them. I will collect these paragraphs at the end of each class meeting. These brief assignments, done properly, should help you become comfortable with asking and answering the kinds of questions you’ll need to address in your class papers.
Attendance and participation
Your presence in class is very important. I allow each student two absences, no questions asked. After that, you will need to clear absences with me; each unexcused absence will lower your participation grade significantly. If you come to class late, come see me after class to be sure I have noted your attendance in my grade book.
Because this is a small class, participation in class discussion and small group work constitutes a significant portion of your grade: 10%. To receive an “A” for your participation, you must participate meaningfully in class every day. Merely attending class will earn you a “C-” for participation.
Written work
I expect you to be ready to hand in your papers at the beginning of class. Please use 12-point Times or Times New Roman font and staple your papers. Any assignment turned in after the beginning class is late, and will be marked down one-third of a grade (e.g., B- to C+) for each day that passes (including weekend days) before you turn it in.
I take your writing very seriously, and I hope you do as well. I do not accept rewrites of graded assignments for a new grade. I schedule generous extra office hours to meet with students by appointment the days before a paper is due, so you will have ample opportunity to write a strong paper.
Quizzes
I may give simple quizzes on a day’s reading material. If it becomes apparent to me from your quiz scores or daily responses to the readings that you have failed to do several reading assignments, your participation grade will suffer. Students who do not read the material usually cannot make meaningful contributions to discussions.
Grading
Daily reading responses: 10%
Class participation: 10%
First paper: 20%
Second paper: 20%
Final exam: 20%
Final group project: 20%
Grades for each individual assignment will be posted on MyUCDavis.
Resources
I will be available during my office hours to address your concerns with the class and assignments. I encourage you to come see me if you feel you have not been offered a chance to participate in class discussion, you are troubled by a particular assignment, you would like to talk more with me about an issue raised in class, or you have concerns about your performance in the course.
I need to hear from anyone who has a disability that may require some modification of seating, assignments, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made. Please see me after class or during my office hours.
Plagiarism
A student commits plagiarism not only if she turns in someone else’s work as her own, but also if she borrows others’ ideas or phrases without giving them credit. We can discuss this in class if anyone has any questions. Please note that any student who plagiarizes or cheats on any assignment may receive an F on the assignment or in the course and may be subject to academic discipline by the university.
I am interested in your thoughts and your creative and analytical work. Please share them with me!
Course Schedule
June 27: Introduction to material culture studies
The Body & the Home
June 29: Miller, “The Many Figures of Eve” (corsets). First paper assigned.
July 1: Holstein, “Sewing and Sowing” (Amish quilts)
July 4: Holiday. Class does not meet.
July 6: Werbel, “The Foley Food Mill”; Lupton, “Power Tool for the Dining Room: The Electric Carving Knife”
July 8: Lileks, “Gallery of Regrettable Food: Myths of the Grill”: http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/hungryman/index.html (read entire series)
The Museum
July 11: Gould, “Seeing Eye to Eye, Through a Glass Clearly” (aquariums) and Mitchell, “On the Evolution of Images,” “Frames, Skeletons, Constitutions,” “Dinosaurs Moralized,” “Pale-ontology, or It’s Not Easy Being Green,” and “A Schematic of Dinosaur Images.” First paper due. Second paper and final project assigned.
July 13: Kohn, “History and the Culture Wars: The Case of the Smithsonian Institution’s Enola Gay Exhibition”
July 15: Merrill, Ladd, and Ferguson, “The Return of the Ahayu:da”
Collectors & Collecting
July 18: Belk, excerpts from Collecting in a Consumer Society
July 20: Votolato, “Industrial Drama: The Custom Car Myth”
July 22: Robertson, “The Collection Just Grows and Grows”; Dubin, “Who’s That Girl? The World of Barbie Deconstructed”; Atwood, “Five Poems for Dolls” Second paper due.
Alternative Approaches to Material Culture
July 25: Baker, Chapter 6 (on milk delivery); O’Brien, “Suburbs”; and listen to “The House on Loon Lake” at http://www.thislife.org (either do a search for “Loon Lake” or go to Episode 199, 11/16/01. You can hear this hour-long radio show for free using Real Audio, which is a free download.)
July 27: Second Hand, 1-86
July 29: Second Hand, 86-176
August 1: Second Hand, 177-end
Wrap-Up
August 3: Final exam, in-class
August 5: Final presentations and course evaluations