Material Culture: History You Can Touch

(4 Credits)

History is found in more than books. Objects and places can also be sources of knowledge as well as areas of study in their own right. This advanced course explores the possibilities and limitations of history you can touch, or material culture. Students will read case studies from circa 1500 AD to the present that employ theories and methods of material culture. During weekly labs, students will gain hands-on experience describing, contextualizing, and analyzing human-made and natural objects, images, food, trash, instruction manuals, fashion, and inventories. They will think of objects in terms of their structure, function, assemblage, context, and biography. For their final paper, students will write a chapter for A Material History of Life at NYU-Shanghai, which applies material culture theories and methods to their own lives. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities Advanced Course.