Making Things and the Politics of Objects (ANTHRO 144)

3–5 credits · Graduate

This course offers a comprehensive, hands-on opportunity to reformulate material culture to engage with pressing social questions. It investigates the role of art as a mode of sense-making, connecting it to issues of historical and social relevance. The course's "making" component consists of two parts. In the first half, students will design and cast a small object in silver or bronze using the old lost-wax method. Concurrent readings and discussions will introduce methods to critically examine issues such as the politics and semiotics of objects, modes of perception, and the impact of context on visual interpretation. In the second half, the focus shifts to the contextual understanding of objects, encompassing museum displays, collections, advertising, and the evolving lifespans of artifacts. Each student will develop a display for their cast object to further explore the politics of object-contexts.