Writing Material Culture History

by Anne Gerritsen (Editor), Giorgio Riello (Editor)

Overview

Writing Material Culture History 2e examines the methodologies used in the historical study of material culture. Looking at archaeology, anthropology, art history and literary studies, the book provides students with a fundamental understanding of the relationship between artefacts and historical narratives. The book addresses the role of museums, the impact of the digital age and the representations of objects in public history, bringing together students and specialists from around the world.

This new edition includes:
A new substantive introduction from the editors, providing a useful roadmap for students and specialists.
A more balanced and easy-to-use structure, including methodological chapters and 'object in focus' chapters consisting of case studies for classroom discussion.
New chapters showing greater engagement with 20th-century material culture, non-European artefacts and the definitions and limits of material culture as a discipline.
Offers global coverage and discussion of both the early modern and modern periods.

Writing Material Culture History 2e is an essential tool for students seeking to understand the potential of objects to re-cast established historical narratives in new and exciting ways.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472518590
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	12/18/2014
Series:	Writing History
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Anne Gerritsen is Professor of History at the University of Warwick, UK, and Chair of Asian Art at University of Leiden, Netherlands. At Warwick, she co-directs the Global History and Culture Centre.

Heiko Feldner is Senior Lecturer in Modern German History at Cardiff University, UK.

Heiko Feldner is co-director of the Centre for Ideology Critique and Žižek Studies at Cardiff University, UK. He is also the General Editor of Bloomsbury's Writing History series on historiography and historical theory, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London. A former lecturer in the departments of political economy and history at the University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, he has written several books, including Zizek: Beyond Foucault (with F. Vighi, Palgrave 2007).

Giorgio Riello is Professor of Early Modern Global History at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy and Professor of Global History and Culture at the University of Warwick, UK. He is the co-editor (with Anne Gerritsen) of Writing Material Culture History (2014; 2nd Ed. 2021

Kevin Passmore is Professor of History at Cardiff University, UK.

Stefan Berger is Professor of Social History and Director of the Institute of Social Movements and the House for the History of the Ruhr at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. He is the author of numerous books, including Nationalizing the Past (2015) and Germany: Inventing the Nation (2004) and the editor of A Companion to Nineteenth-Century Europe: 1789-1914 (2009). He is, along with Kevin Passmore and Heiko Feldner, one of the Series Editors for Bloomsbury's successful student book series, Writing History.

Lizette Jacinto holds a BA in History from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico (2001), MA studies in History by the Institute f or Social Sciences and Humanities "Alfonso Vélez Pliego" (ICSyH) of the Benemeritus Autonomous University of Puebla (BUAP), Puebla, Mexico (2003), and the Dr.-Phil. degree in History from the Witten-Herdecke University, Witten, Germany (2010), obtained under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Jörn Rüsen, and in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Cultural Studies (KWI), Essen , Germany. She has taught at the University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, and the Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany, and has also been a guest lecturer at different universities in Europe and Latin America. Since 2015 she has been the lead trainer for Latin America of the research proposal writing courses Dies-ProGRANt, sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Germany. Since December 2015 she is a full Research Professor of the Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities "Alfonso Vélez Pliego" (ICSyH) of the BUAP university in Puebla, Mexico. Since 2017 she is a member of the National System of Researchers, SNI Level I, in Mexico. She is currently a member of the Editorial Board of the journals Historia da Historiografía, Brazil, and the electronic journal iMex - México Interdisciplinario, of the University of Düsseldorf, Germany. Since 2020 she is Member of the Board of Advisors of Bloomsbury Publishers, England, for the collection Theory and Method. In 2022, she was the organizer of the IV Congress of the International Theory of History Network (INTH), held in Puebla, Mexico. She has coordinated the books Género y Ciencia, Editorial Velvuert, 2011, and Racismo, cuerpo y violencia en América Latina, BUAP-Ediciones del Lirio, 2019. Her lines of research are associated with Theory of History (microhistory, cultural history and conceptual history), Social Movements, Feminism, History of Mexico in XX-XXI centuries, as well as Mexico-German Relations, especially the German-speaking left-wing Exile in Mexico.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Material Culture History: Methods, Practices and Disciplines, Anne Gerritsen and Giorgio Riello
Object in Focus 1. Broken Saints, House Cats, Other Historical Matter, Dana Leibsohn

Part I: The Disciplines of Material Culture
1. Material Culture and the History of Art(efacts), Viccy Coltman
2. Written Texts and the Performance of Materiality, Catherine Richardson
3. Anthropology, Archaeology, History and the Material Culture of Lycra®, Kaori O'Connor
Object in Focus 2: Material Culture, Archaeology and Defining Modernity: Case Studies in Ceramic Research, David Gaimster
Object in Focus 3: Father Amiot's Cup: A Qing Imperial Porcelain Sent to the Court of Louis XV and - Kee Il Choi
Object in Focus 4: Broken Objects: Using Archaeological Ceramics in the Study of Material Culture, Suzanne Findlen Hood
Object in Focus 5: Writing Our Maritime Pasts: The Belitung Shipwreck Controversy, Natali Pearson
Object in Focus 6: Identity, Heritage and Memorialisation: The Toraja Tongkonan of Indonesia, Kathleen M. Adams
Object in Focus 7: History by Design: The UK Board of Trade Design Register, Dinah Eastop


Part II: The Methods of Material Culture
4. Spaces of Global Interactions: The Material Landscapes of Global History, Anne Gerritsen and Giorgio Riello
5. Material Culture and Materialism: The French Revolution in Wallpaper, Ulrich Lehmann
6. How Things Shape Us: Material Culture and Identity in the Industrial Age, Manuel Charpy


Object in Focus 8: Invisible Beds: Health and the Material Culture of Sleep, Sandra Cavallo
Object in Focus 9: Material Culture and Sound: A Sixteenth-Century Handbell, Flora Dennis
Object in Focus 10: Interwoven Knowledge: The Understanding and Conservation of Three Carpets, Jessica Hallett and Raquel Santos
Object in Focus 11: Lustrous Things: Luminosity and Reflection before the Light Bulb, Ann Smart Martin
Object in Focus 12: Cosmopolitan Relationships in the Crossroads of the Pacific Ocean, Christina Hellmich
Object in Focus 13: Digital Microscopy and Early Modern Embroidery, Stefan Hanß
Object in Focus 14: Objects of Emotions: The London Foundling Hospital Tokens, 1741-60, John Styles
Object in Focus 15: Time, Wear and Maintenance: The Afterlife of Things, Victoria Kelley

Part III: The Preservation and Interpretation of Material Culture
7. The Return of the Wunderkammer: Material Culture in the Museum 225, Ethan W. Lasser
8. Handle with Care: The Future of Curatorial Expertise, Glenn Adamson
9. As Seen on the Screen: Material Culture, Historical Accuracy and the Costume Drama, Hannah Greig

Object in Focus 16: Europe 1600-1800 in a Thousand Objects, Lesley Ellis Miller
Object in Focus 17: Reading and Writing the Restoration History of an Old French bureau, Carolyn Sargentson
Object in Focus 18: Objects of Empire: Museums, Material Culture, and Histories of Empire, John McAleer
Object in Focus 19: The Lost Heritage of China: Dismantling Beijing, Digitizing Beijing, Di Lou
Object in Focus 20: 'Black Gold': Industrial Heritage of the Nineteenth-century Ruhr Area, Christian Kleinschmidt
Object in Focus 21: Indigeneity and Race and the Politics of Museum Collections, Beverly Lemire
Object in Focus 22: Acts of creation: debating Indigenous American repatriation from Britain, Jack Davy

Index

Editorial Reviews

Gerritsen and Riello offer us a rich and eclectic collection of essays devoted to the multiple methodologies associated with the study of material artifacts, as well as fascinating and instructive case studies of particular objects, all well-suited for undergraduate teaching and the training of future researchers. That this book should merit a second, and expanded, edition in so short a period (a scant five years) is testament to the vitality of the field of material culture studies. Noteworthy areas of new attention include the political study of objects, the material history of urban space, and the application of new technologies (3-D printing or big data for example) to the study of material culture. If historians have indeed “experienced a Damascene conversion to material culture” as Gerritsen and Riello argue, then surely they should be credited in large measure for bringing it intellectual coherence and a global reach. This book, now expanded, will be essential reading for those who join them.” —Anne EC McCants, Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

“The volume is an impressive collection of different views on material culture, written from anthropological, historical, and art historical perspectives. It should be an essential text in the appreciation of artefacts, and the role they play in the interactions of cultures over time and space.” —Ruth Barnes, Thomas Jaffe Curator of Indo-Pacific Art, Yale University Art Gallery, USA

From the Publisher