The American Studies Association Material Culture Caucus
The Material Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association bridges the gap between university-based and museum-based scholars to promote the study of material culture in American Studies programs. On this page, you’ll find announcements about current and upcoming Caucus activities, reports on past activities, and educational resources produced by the Caucus. For more information, visit the Caucus blog at
Please see the CFP below from the ASA's material culture caucus:
The Material Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association wishes to encourage participation in the November 9-12, 2017, Annual Meeting: “Pedagogies of Dissent” in Chicago.
To read the conference Call for Papers see: http://www.theasa.net/submit_a_proposal
The Material Culture Caucus welcomes papers and panels that explore an expansive definition of pedagogy that includes all spaces, institutions, and objects that shape American thought and character including schools, religious institutions, workplaces, entertainment venues
Special Thanks to Debby Andrews for sharing this great resource!
The following is a report from a conference workshop held at the 2014 American Studies Association meeting.
Twenty Years, Twenty Questions to Ask an Object
Friday November 7 2014
2:00 to 3:45pm, Westin Bonaventure, Level 1, Los Cerritos (L1)
Debby Andrews, Sarah Carter, Estella Chung, Ellen Garvey, Catherine Whalen
Since its formation in 1994, the Material Culture Caucus has bridged the gap between university-based and museum-based scholars to promote the study of material culture in American Studies programs. We invite you to
The Material Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association wishes to encourage participation in the 2016 Annual Meeting: “Home/Not Home: Centering American Studies Where We Are,” November 17-20, 2016, Denver, Colorado.
To read the conference Call for Papers please see:
http://www.theasa.net/submit_a_proposal
Areas of interest related to the theme include (but are not limited to) the material culture of:
• Dwellings
• House vs. Home
• Consumerism – what things make a house? What things make a home?
• Non-traditional houses/homes
• Communities
• Institutions
• Gender
• Feminism/patriarchy
•
I mis-typed the title of this post! These events all took place last weekend at ASA2015 in Toronto, not 2016 as the title says. Hope it didn't cause anyone to miss the meeting which was, by all accounts, wonderful! Hopefully you'll get a chance to catch up at ASA2016 in Denver. More on that later.
Patrick Cox
In case it makes for easier viewing, here is the 20 questions document with links to video and more info:
Co-authored by Debby Andrews, Sarah Carter, Estella Chung, Ellen Garvey, Shirley Wajda, and Catherine Whalen. Revised based on feedback from the workshop “Twenty Years, Twenty Questions to Ask an Object,” conducted by the Material Culture Caucus of American Studies Association at the ASA’s 2014 annual meeting.
In these questions, there are two main entities at play, the object and the inspector. A third component is the setting in which the inspection takes place. The initial questions guide
The Encyclopedia of American Studies Forum (EAS), an online publication on the American Studies Association website, invites contributions for its planned 2016 feature on "Exhibiting American Studies." This theme follows previous forums with multiple authors on "Screening American Studies" (film and video work in American Studies), "Writing American Studies," and "Teaching American Studies." A full list of EAS Forums is available here. Each Forum includes three to five brief essays of 500-1000 words on the concepts and practices of producing American Studies work in different media. In
The University of Michigan will host this conference in March (submission deadline is in November), featuring visiting editors from numerous presses, including University of Minnesota Press, University of Illinois Press, University of California Press, UNC Press, and NYU Press.
Envisioning American Studies:
An Anniversary Conference
March 18, 2016
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
The Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan announces a call for papers that highlight new approaches and emerging research at the forefront of American studies. Selected papers will be presented at
The Caucus has been collecting syllabi for several years. Please add yours!
https://networks.h-net.org/node/7842/pages/9620/material-culture-syllabi
Play twenty questions in class with this well tested list (2 pages).
On the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, the Material Culture Caucus compiled a list of panels they sponsored at ASA annual conferences since 1995 (10 pages).