Material Culture Research Articles

The Things of Order: Affect, Material Culture, Dispositif

Abstract: Commenting on Frantz Fanon's account of the material culture created by European colonizers in the aftermath of invasion, Achille Mbembe notes that the colony is fundamentally a state of war, a contest of forces, in which "sensory life"—the continuum of bodies, objects, and landscapes—is a battlefield. "From this point of view," he writes, "colonial domination requires an enormous investment in affect and ceremony and a significant emotional expenditure." This essay argues for a reappraisal of the work of Michel Foucault as a theory of material culture. Linking Foucault's work on power to studies of material culture, it reviews Foucault's late concept of the dispositif , which specifies the ways power is projected by objects like the scaffold and the panopticon. The article then puts Foucault's approach to material culture in conversation with two strands of contemporary critical thought—New Materialism and affect theory—to show how a full-fledged analytics of power–matter–affect might emerge. What Foucault calls the "analytics of power" supports the critical study of affect and ceremony—the streams of force that constitute subjectivity above, beneath, or outside of language. By way of example, this article explores how this emergent framework can provide new resources for moving beyond liberal approaches to the problem of Confederate monuments. Although Foucault is often read as a theorist preoccupied with discourse, a reconsideration of the dispositif shows that Foucault's analytics of power enhances our understanding of the role of material culture in guiding political affects.

Shaping foundations: Trans feminine self-fashioning, DIY and community building in the postwar United States

More than 5 million pairs of falsies, also known as bust pads, were sold in the United States in 1946, exceeding prior sales records. In the postwar United States, falsies were an increasingly popular way of shaping the body into a fashionable curvaceous silhouette and utilized the latest in wartime synthetic material developments. Falsies were an important part of trans and queer life. However, these wearers and makers have been largely omitted from histories of fashion, foundationwear and material culture. This article traces the trans feminine history of falsies and other padded foundationwear in the postwar United States. The author analyses a range of archival materials largely sourced from the Digital Transgender Archive including publications and print ephemera from the 1950s–70s to show how trans feminine, queer and gender-nonconforming people innovated falsie design through DIY practices. While the majority of individuals in the postwar United States were unable to access trans healthcare and anti-trans legislation continued to publicly police bodies, trans feminine networks circulated information on how to purchase, wear and make padded foundations. These collective efforts empowered wearers and built community in a variety of ways.

Material ambiguities of losing a parent: Time, clothing and grief during terminal illness

In the spring of 2023, my father, Arturo, died of brain cancer at the age of 55, after a decade of illness. As he was dying, I began to process my anticipatory grief by writing about my emotional attachments to his clothing. Drawing on material culture, affect and design theory, this article looks at my family’s personal experience of my father’s illness and death to investigate the emotional possibilities and limits of garments belonging to palliative care patients and their loved ones. By looking closely at the material resonances of my father’s clothing while he died, this article explores how clothes reflect the confusing nature of time, grief and love when losing a parent to long-term illness. In theorizing the experience of losing a parent through a material culture lens, this article explores the liminality of anticipating a significant familial loss and the affective qualities of the garments that endure through it.

Making the Memory Book: War-Time Loss and Memorialization through Ephemera

This article explores the way a family fashioned a memorial to a son ‘taken by the war’. It focuses on the Robert’s collection in Melbourne, Australia’s largest bound collection of war time ephemera, and the making of what was called ‘Frank’s Memory Book’. It argues that families asserted ownership over their dead, crafting different modes of memorialization to authorized modes of remembrance, considers the way communities of mourners were brought together and highlights tensions between private loss and public memory. The making of ephemera is examined at length as is the part material culture plays in libraries and archives.

Exploring materiality and sensory experience through Viking Age reenactment

ABSTRACT Sensory archaeology explores how past individuals engaged with their world through all their senses. The use of senses is also a cornerstone in Viking Age reenactment. We argue that research on Viking Age material culture can benefit from the knowledge and experience of Viking Age reenactors, particularly when studying the sensory dimension of using and crafting objects. The traditional dichotomy between archaeologists and reenactors can also be challenged, as many individuals can be professional archaeologists but also reenactors. The application of reenactment in archaeological research is nevertheless situated on the boundary between subjective experiences and objective academic research. For this kind of research to work, methodological rigour and a theoretical framework is required to ensure the reliability and validity of interpretations. By applying a relevant theoretical framework, for example one that embraces the theories of sensory archaeology, while acknowledging the nuanced interplay of authenticity and subjectivity, Viking Age reenactment can provide a unique tool to study Viking Age material culture.

Statement of Retraction: Exploration on inheritance and innovation of material technology and material culture in folk arts

Statement of Retraction: Exploration on inheritance and innovation of material technology and material culture in folk arts

Pottery and Social Practice: Between Home and Abroad

This article aims to explore the uses of material culture and their relevance to identity formation. The premise is applied specifically to the moving auxilia, in order to observe the effects of movement and transfers on the selection and consumption of material culture within the military environment. It is common knowledge that pottery supply and use within the Roman military were to an extent governed by specific state-controlled supply routes and contracts, meaning that the same pottery styles could have been observed at different forts from different regions. Nonetheless, the cultural side of demand should not be overlooked as it may have tailored supply differently to various regions depending on the preferences in the area. Similarly, auxiliary units transferred from home may have preserved some of their familiar pottery styles and reproduce them upon arrival to the new territory. This article will explore the ways pottery was employed at locations associated with Batavian auxilia in order to capture their image construction between home and abroad. Once removed from their core territory and placed in a new environment with new norms in terms of material culture and even dressing and addressing one another, how did their consumption adapt to the area and to which extent did it keep a unique character? The main case-study explored in this paper is Războieni in order to assess the pottery consumption patterns of Batavian auxilia abroad in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.

Поэтика вещи в калмыцких сказках о животных

The article examines the poetics of things in Kalmyk fairy tales about animals. The research material included both published and unpublished texts of Kalmyk fairy tales about animals in the original and translated into Russian, as well as legends and traditions. Despite the fact that when studying Kalmyk fairy tales about animals related to the genre, plot, composition, system of characters, and linguistic means, researchers touched upon such material culture to one degree or another, the objective world of such fairy tales did not become the object and subject of a separate study. Results. In representative Kalmyk tales about animals, object realities related to different spheres of material culture were found: types of housing and its decoration, non-residential buildings, tools and materials, household utensils, weapons and hunting tools, musical instruments, vehicles, etc. One of them is used by people and animals, others - only by people. Some objective realities are created by animals. In the plot collisions of fairy tales, things are used for one purpose or another by people and animals or only by people, while the same thing can have different functions, for example, attack and defense. In the only case, the thing is endowed with the magical ability of the donor. Some things reveal only the objective background against which certain events occur. Subject realities have both a universal and local, ethnic character.

Features of designing a Component Element of the National women's Azerbaijani Costume - Kelagai Scarfs

Presents studies of the parameters of the structure and design of Azerbaijani national scarves kelagai. A historical analysis of the development of kelagai production has been carried out, which reflects the ethnographic, historical, artistic and technological features of folk art. Proposals have been developed for the use of kelagai in the design of modern fashionable women's clothing. The features of making kelagai scarves have been studied and the factors influencing their structure and structure, as well as their role in the formation of national characteristics of modern fashion, have been identified. The structure and structure of kelagai scarves was studied based on the texture of the fabric structure. The conducted research makes it possible to use the national traditions of making kelagai scarves in the design of modern clothing, as one of the iconic and symbolic elements of folk culture and an important component of the artistic and compositional patterns of shaping promising models of modern women's clothing, as well as for the dynamic development of material and spiritual culture.

Farewell to the Young: Early Iron Age Mortuary Practices in the Middle Danube Region

ABSTRACT The study of burials and mortuary practices in the past provides essential information on the role and treatment of children in past communities. This study aims to better understand the status of children by reviewing the material culture provided by child burial contexts. Early Iron Age (800–300 BC) mortuary practices in the southern Middle Danube (present–day eastern Croatia and northwestern Serbia) are characterized mostly by the cremation of the dead. The Iron Age is an important time for funerary transitions. The standard practice of cremating the dead was replaced by the practice of inhumation during the 6th century BC. The manner of treatment of the dead body affected the preservation of objects and data in the graves. This paper studies 74 burials with child remains, costumes, jewellery, tool items, and pottery grave goods. In Early Iron Age mortuary practices, children were treated just like the adult members of the community.

Поэтика вещи в героическом эпосе «Джангар»

Introduction. The article is devoted to the consideration of the poetics of things in the epic tradition of “Dzhangar” of the Kalmyks of Russia and the Oirats of Xinjiang. The image of the world of things that surround the heroes of the epic serves not only as a material background, they (objects, things) are necessary for the actions of the character and the expression of his individuality. The research material is the texts of the epic songs of the Xinjiang-Oirat and Kalmyk versions of “Dzhangar”. The purpose of the article is to consider the objective-material world in the heroic epic “Dzhangar”. Results. Consideration of the objective-material world in the Kalmyk and Xinjiang-Oirat versions of “Dzhangar” showed that in the lyrics a thing is one of the elements characterizing the image of a hero; in the depiction of an epic picture of the world, its heroes, characters, a thing acquires a symbolic meaning. The name of the epic country Bumba is associatively connected with a functioning object — a “treasure vessel”, the semantic field of which is its connecting link. The palace preserves the experience of the nomadic life of the Oirats and Kalmyks, their material way of life, as an objective reality of the epic space. The epic palace of Dzhangar, being a kind of field of attraction, gathers the heroic family at the banquet table, where the ruler of Bumba chooses the hero to go on a military campaign. The items of horse equipment and weapons of the hero in the epic “Dzhangar” are correlated with the objective realities with the help of which the hero moves in the epic space, undergoes difficult trials and achieves the goal of the military campaign. Things that are correlated with objects of material culture perform their main functions and are associated with the peculiarities of the worldview of the traditional culture of the Mongolian peoples.

A network of designs: studying Early Lapita exchange networks in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea through Social Network Analysis

ABSTRACTThe application of Social Network Analysis to the study of archaeological networks has become increasingly common around the world, with a proven track record of processing large, complex, spatial and temporal archaeological datasets. This study builds upon previous network‐based analyses of interaction between communities of the Lapita Cultural Complex, with a specific focus on the Early Period (c.3300/3200–3100 calBP) in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Employing motif inventories from 13 Early Lapita Period assemblages, motif similarity and Centrality Analysis are undertaken, with the results compared to data from portable material culture, particularly obsidian and pottery, to further define the networks of interaction that linked communities during this period. We conclude that motif similarities and Centrality Analysis scores show good agreement with patterns of interactions established from the analysis of other types of portable material culture, which together support the existence of northern west to east and southern obsidian distribution networks, comprised of communities that employed unique types of interaction tailored towards their own cultural and societal circumstances and needs. Finally, we further conclude that these two networks may have arisen during the initial formation of the Lapita Cultural Complex, as populations established new social connections with other settler communities and incumbent populations across the region to survive in a new and foreign environment.

Reflections on the commensal model and future directions in Polynesian interaction studies

ABSTRACTOne of the central themes of indigenous Polynesian historical narratives involves voyaging, navigation and patterns of inter‐island cultural connection. One of the ways archaeologists have long looked at these questions through the lens of material culture studies—distributions of artefact and assemblage traits in time and space. Here we examine patterns of historical interaction inferred from the application of the commensal model with those derived from more traditional archaeological approaches. We suggest that the most reliable and nuanced models of past cultural interaction in Eastern Polynesia will result from a creative synthesis of molecular zooarchaeology and traditional archaeological and zooarchaeological methods.

Cranial injuries in ancient Egypt: Three cases of interpersonal violence in the dynastic necropolis of Qubbet el‐Hawa (Aswan, Egypt)

AbstractViolence seems to have been a constant in Egyptian history, as attested by documentary sources. The material culture also reflects this state of violence; however, anthropological findings, although present, are not as numerous as might be expected. In the present study, we analyze the injuries found in three crania (New Kingdom, 1500–1070 BCE) from the necropolis of Qubbet el‐Hawa, near the island of Elephantine (Aswan, Egypt). All three cases are adult males with several injuries caused by a sharp‐edged weapon, with no signs of survival. The macroscopic analysis of the wounds was combined with archaeological and historical data to provide an explanation of the possible weapon used and the possible scenarios (intergroup or intragroup violence) where these deaths could have occurred. These cranial injuries leave no doubt as to the intentionality and repetition in the act of causing death. These findings offer clear evidence and reliable information that contributes to the understanding of interpersonal violence and its potential causes in ancient Egypt.

Roman Rural Settlement in Wales and the Marches: Approaches to Settlement and Material Culture Through Big Data. By L. Reynolds. BAR British series B670: Archaeology of Roman Britain Vol. 6. BAR Publishing, Oxford, 2022. Pp. xix + 177, illus. Price £46 (pbk). isbn 9781407358963.

Roman Rural Settlement in Wales and the Marches: Approaches to Settlement and Material Culture Through Big Data. By L. Reynolds. BAR British series B670: Archaeology of Roman Britain Vol. 6. BAR Publishing, Oxford, 2022. Pp. xix + 177, illus. Price £46 (pbk). <scp>isbn</scp> 9781407358963.

Seventeenth-century Seville houses: a survey by the Alarife Juan De Legarra (1637)

Despite the wealth of preserved information, research on the domestic architecture of Seville has been limited. Much of this historical data is available in survey books that were formally compiled in Seville from the Modern Age onwards. These books had detailed descriptions and sometimes illustrations provided by surveyors who were commissioned by owners or tenants.The intention of this study is to illustrate that the information contained in building surveys goes beyond simple descriptions or measurements often accompanied by drawings. They are a comprehensive account that, even centuries later, help reconstruct the architecture, material culture and everyday life that no longer exist. Our research contributes to the understanding of the domestic architectural history of Seville by focusing on one specific survey (a collection of drawings and a written description) extracted from the Hospital de las Cinco Llagas Collection, which is found in the Seville Provincial Council Archive. At least one of the drawings and the written survey can be attributed to the Alarife (architect or master builder) Juan de Legarra, who signed them in 1637.This research explores the architectural development of the city, offering fresh insights into its architecture, heritage, and history. It supplements existing historical, visual, and written records derived from prior studies with a meticulously curated bibliography. Additionally, it uses visualisation techniques to reconstruct buildings, augmenting the research.This endeavour has yielded anticipated benefits, particularly in facilitating visual analysis. The surveys have proven to be invaluable for historical inquiry, yielding unexpected insights through the thorough analysis of both written and graphic sources which serve as a basis for hypothetical construction plans due to their detailed descriptions. Furthermore, this study has contributed to enriching both historical and architectural terminology.The incorporation of digital technologies into this architectural context allows us to expand our knowledge through the exhaustive compilation of building records. It also facilitates in-depth analysis of architecture, which could result in an up-to-date architectural catalogue that would stimulate interest in preserving a legacy that, until recently, was at risk of being lost.

As Teachers Not Tourists: Creating Knowledge During a Short-Term Study Abroad Program

Here, I address the call for teacher education programs to feature international elements to help pre-service teachers craft powerful classroom instruction and successfully work with students from culturally diverse backgrounds. I share a qualitative investigation of participants’ experiences during a short-term study abroad program in Japan that explored contemporary disaster preparedness as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The program sponsors, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hoped participants would develop an appreciation for the people and culture of Japan while they learned about disaster preparedness. I wondered if collecting curriculum items during a short-term study abroad program could help social studies pre-service teachers create—not just receive—historical domain knowledge? In Japan, participants collected items to use as featured resources around which they designed classroom activities for secondary students. Their activities demonstrated three levels of second-order historical domain knowledge and two elements of civic competence. This study suggests that pre-service teachers with no previous international experience may require explicit modeling and scaffolding to translate their short-term study abroad participation into dynamic learning. Another implication is that participants need strong support to consider the photographs they capture as artifacts of contemporary material culture.

‘A Return, a Mirror, a Photograph’: Return Journeys, Material Culture and Intergenerational Transmission in a Greek Cypriot Refugee Family

During times of war, displaced families carry various material items that later serve as means for preserving the memories of lost homes and maintaining a sense of identity. In divided Cyprus, the use of material objects by people displaced before and during the 1974 Turkish invasion has been influenced by the opening of checkpoints between the two sides in 2003. This paper explores how different generations in my family reacted to and interpreted the rediscovery of a lost material item—a handmade mirror piece—during the return journey. It discusses how my mother located the item, photographed it, and placed its photograph in the family’s photographic archive. During the research project upon which this paper follows from, both items re-emerged through my mother’s storytelling about her experience of return, transforming the project into a form of intergenerational transmission. The paper portrays how the storytelling about the mirror piece and its photograph was interpreted differently by me and my mother, influenced by the different politics of memory. The paper also showcases the resourcefulness of refugee families in maintaining the memory of their lost homes, which simultaneously reveals their views and hopes regarding the political future of the island.

Folding chair “Iseri” of the mongols

One of the characteristic artefacts of the material culture of Medieval Mongols is a folding chair. The Mongols used chairs with legs that were easy to fold and carry. It was a product adapted to the nomadic lifestyle. It was used differently by the nobles and wealthy people. The chairs can be seen in Medieval Mongolian stone statues and Persian miniature paintings that depicted the Mongols. Also, a folding chair was found from the Tavan Tolgoi site of Ongon soum, Sukhbaatar province, Mongolia. During the Mongol Empire, this chair was specially made from wood called “huanghuali” (Dalbergia odorifera, fragrant rosewood or Chinese rosewood). Such a wooden chair, made during the Ming Dynasty of China, has been preserved until the present. It can be said that this chair bears an influence of the Mongol Empire. A record written by Zhao Hong, an ambassador from the Southern Song Dynasty who came to Mongolia in the 13th century, says that Genghis Khan sits in a folding armchair with golden dragon. It also states that his general Mukhali used an armchair with silver dragon. The archeological monument depicting a dragon in the Mongolian folding chair is housed in the museum of Dundgobi province, Mongolia. Around Shangdu, the upper capital of the Yuan Dynasty, there are stone statues from the Mongol Empire. These statues also appear to have armchairs with such dragons. Unfortunately, the part of the core with the dragon was deliberately broken and damaged. The dragon was not only a Chinese symbol but also of kings and nobles in the East, including the Mongols. The “iseri” armchairs of the Mongols were later adopted by Ming and Jin dynasties, as well as other states in Asia, some with editions and some directly.

Cultural conceptualisations in Nigerian Pidgin English proverbs

AbstractThis article explores Nigerian Pidgin English proverbs as a source of cultural conceptualisations that reflect traditional wisdom as well as the modern urban setting of West Africa. A total of 173 proverbs sourced from the BBC News Pidgin's Instagram service were analysed for recurrent lexical keywords and themes (e.g. those relating to food, eating and drinking, and animals) that can be interpreted as source domain lexical material that points to the knowledge of nature, common animals, objects and social situations. The findings suggest that Nigerian Pidgin English proverbs contain a rich inventory of variety‐ and culture‐specific lexis that encodes cultural knowledge and practice, for example knowledge of the local flora and fauna, food items, but also objects of material culture such as clothing, as well as references to social culture.