PUB 315 Material Culture
The study of Material Culture ranges from houses and their furnishings to the tools of preparing and eating food, the objects of everyday life. In the broadest sense, material culture cuts across a variety of disciplines, including history, anthropology, sociology, folklore, literature, and American studies. Students in this course will gain an understanding of the process of object study, how objects reflect and are informed by the contexts in which an they existed (and still exist), and how to read those objects to gain access to a richer understanding of our past. Because of the abundance of local resources, this class will focus on the period of early American westward expansion, roughly 1785 through the middle of the 19th century.