Things and the OAC

For any of you folks out there interested in questions about materiality (things, stuff, objects--and what they "do"), check out the current online seminar at the OAC, which features a paper by Martin Holbraad (co-editor of the 2006 book "Thinking Through Things). The is open until January 29, and is already well underway with comments and replies.

The OAC has put together some pretty interesting stuff of late--and I think these online seminars are coming together in really fascinating way. I am about 1/2 through Holbraad's paper, and need to get in there ASAP to get in my 2 cents.

Archaeological/Ethnographic borders

Where do ethnography and archaeology collide? Where do they overlap? How can ethnographic information and practice inform archaeological projects? How can archaeological insights and theories give us different ways of thinking about contemporary lived environments?

Sometimes disciplinary boundaries seem pretty arbitrary. When do we call material artifacts "archaeological," and when do we place them under the ethnographic umbrella? What's the use of this separation?

I am fascinated with the idea of an "archaeological site" as something that is defined by a series of social, political, and academic criteria. In some cases, a particular site becomes archaeological when it is 45 years old or more. So day by day new archaeological sites are showing up. At least rhetorically.

So, is a 45 year old Boy Scout campfire site just as archaeological as a 6,000 year old hearth? Why or why not? Where and why do we decide to place value upon the past? Who decides?

I like the idea of mixing ethnography and archaeology up and seeing what happens. How can an archaeological mindset be useful in ethnography? How might it be interesting to look at contemporary photographs from a particular standpoint? Or what about a set of objects in a kitchen? What about the use of domestic space?

This is the kind of stuff that I think about when I am supposed to be writing seminar papers. Creative distraction or procrastination or both?

Middle Savagery and "Archaeological Deposits"

Colleen Morgan over at Middle Savagery has a great post about contemporary material remains. Read it! For me, this brings up a really important discussion about interpretation--what can we learn from material remains? What is impossible to know? Looking at contemporary material remains--whether the contents of your kitchen or a massive junkyard--can be really informative and fascinating. That's why I think an archaeological approach is not only relevant when it comes to the past, but also the present. We are all surrounded by material objects (cars, clothes, silverware, Christmas cards, airports, computers, photographs, toothpicks, handguns, etc), and we invest meaning in these objects. At the same time, some might argue, those very objects invest meaning in us.