Chapter 14 Student Activities

Deconstructing and Rebuilding a Mundane Object Activity

As we saw in this chapter, a bike is not just a bike and a shoe is not just a shoe. When approached with an anthropological eye, these cultural objects can reveal elaborate details about their “life history” and the people who made and used them. Consider some mundane object like a can of Coke or some object you might pull out of your backpack. Besides height, width, and depth, what can you say about this object using Stocking’s dimensions as the basis of your analysis of this object? If the object can be reasonably measured (height, width, depth), you can do so. Then move on to the more abstract dimensions: time (history), power, wealth, and aesthetics. What do all of these dimensions tell you about the object?

A Thought Activity: Controversial Art

“Art” is notoriously difficult to define, especially when it is controversial. Usually when a work is inflammatory in some respect—offensive lyrics, profane or sacrilegious imagery, pornography, etc.—critics proclaim that the work is just hiding behind the “shield of art.” But most anthropologists think it is not about finding a shield for offensive imagery as much as it is a way for us to identify powerful but usually unquestioned areas of meaning. What controversial works of art (films, books, music, music videos, YouTube videos, etc.) have you seen and perhaps been offended by or pleased to see in the public eye (or ear)? What makes these lyrics or images so offensive for some?