Master of Arts / This thesis suggests how studying material culture can yield important insight into the lives of 18th-century craftswomen in scholarship and at public history sites, where they have historically been minimally interpreted. Objects and their physical features reveal important insights that go beyond existing written records, especially for populations that have been excluded from or misrepresented in historical records. This research utilizes The Virginia Gazette, a newspaper produced by Clementina Rind before the Revolutionary War, to show her involvement in early American discussions and events. It also addresses how material culture can be used to teach visitors about the 18th-century women who labored in other non-domestic trades, including blacksmiths, bookbinders, silversmiths, and carpenters. Applying these methods can help scholars and public history audiences think more critically about diverse perspectives within and contributions to early American history.

Ce travail s’intéresse à l’esthétique des objets et des choses dans l’oeuvre poétique de Derek Mahon. On constate en effet une véritable prolifération des objets dans ses poèmes, dont l’importance est telle qu’ils monopolisent la parole poétique au point de voler la parole au poète lui-même, et de devenir les sujets lyriques du poème, comme dans « The Apotheosis of Tins » ou « The Drawing Board ». Les objets deviennent la synecdoque du Je poétique, et reflètent les ambiguïtés de leur créateur, notamment vis-à-vis de l’Histoire et du conflit nord-irlandais, conflit qui selon les termes de Mahon lui-même, a eu pour conséquence de provoquer, dans son oeuvre, ce qu’il nomme une « aphasie coloniale ».Les objets seraient-ils alors pour le poète un moyen détourné d’exprimer une parole poétique qu’il se refuse à assumer ? Le recours à la parole des objets aurait alors une vertu thérapeutique, et permettrait au poète de surmonter le traumatisme du conflit nord-irlandais qu’incarnent les Troubles, ainsi que de se libérer de l’emprise de son milieu protestant nord-irlandais, afin d’élaborer une poétique des objets qui lui serait propre. En nous appuyant sur des ouvrages des material culture studies, nous verrons comment Mahon tente de s’extraire d’objets qui lui semblent trop « étiquettés ». Nous étudierons notamment le rapport de Mahon aux déchets ou disjecta, qui représentent la pierre angulaire de sa nouvelle classification poétique des objets. Il faut également distinguer chez Mahon les objets des choses, auxquelles il attribue une valeur différente. Nous tentons d’établir, à travers une perspective à la fois philosophique, esthétique et économique, comment Mahon choisit de ne pas faire coïncider la valeur économique et la valeur esthétique d’un objet, par un double procédé de réévaluation puis de recyclage poétique de l’objet en chose.C’est le statut problématique de l’objet et de la nouvelle dimension que Mahon lui attribue dans son oeuvre poétique que nous nous proposons d’étudier. / This thesis explores the aesthetics of objects and things in the poetic works of Derek Mahon. We cannot but be struck by the impressive array of objects in his poems, where they seem to literally monopolize the poetic voice, and almost steal the poet’s firmly established position. Objects in Mahon’s poetry become the true lyrical “I” of the poem, as in “The Apotheosis of Tins” or “The Drawing Board”. Objects are considered as the mouthpiece for the poet’s own preoccupations and ambiguities, especially apropos his attitude towards History and the Troubles in Northern Ireland (this conflict has even provoked on Mahon’s part what he calls a “colonial aphasia” syndrome).We might then assume that objects represent a disguised opportunity for the poet to express his own thoughts about the conflict, but also about other issues as well, economic as well as environmental. Speaking through objects might then enable the poet to overcome his trauma due to the conflict, as well as liberate himself from his own Protestant Northern Irish milieu, in order to conceive his own aesthetics of objects, and even an Aesthetics of Trash, as Hugh Haughton has called it. Thanks to some recent writings in the field of material culture studies, we will endeavour to study how Mahon is actually trying to escape in his poetry from “(Northern) Irish objects”, and how he finds in beckettian disjecta or rubbish the possibility of freedom, as well as the possibility of a new, post-human world. We will also seek to distinguish between objects and things, which Mahon values differently. We shall try to demonstrate, by using a philosophical, but also an economic and aesthetical perspective, how Mahon chooses to differentiate between the economic and the aesthetical value of an object, by reevaluating it before recycling it, opening the possibility of the transformation of the object into the thing.It is the problematical status of the object and the new dimension that Mahon allows it to take that we intend to study in this thesis.

1999 Dozier Award Winner / This paper examines critically several key assumptions that have guided many archaeological interpretations of prehistoric mortuary assemblages. It is argued that more sophisticated models of mortuary deposition need to be incorporated into research that attempts to reconstruct community structure and other sociological variables from variation in grave assemblages. To illustrate this point, and to begin to build such models, a study of artifacts deposited in mortuary contexts was conducted by the author in a major urban center in Arizona in 1996. Several different behavioral pathways through which objects enter mortuary contexts are identified in this study, and some general material correlates for each are specified. This study also provides a vehicle for exploring preliminarily how, and to what extent, various forms of mortuary depostion are related to the social identities of the deceased. Finally, a synthetic model is developed which seeks to explain variation in mortuary deposition in terms of behavioral interactions between the living, on the one hand, and the deceased and various classes of material culture, on the other. It is hoped that the general models and material correlates developed through this study can be elaborated by prehistorians to bolster inferences drawn from specific mortuary populations and to explore previously-uncharted realms of mortuary behavior in the past.

This diploma thesis focuses on the phenomena of homelessness as a situation in which individuals do not have enough money to secure the conventional accommodation. This leads to them constructing their home in the public space or squatting abandoned buildings. This thesis refuses to interpret homelessness as a pathological phenomenon or as a violation of order (in order to demonstrate this, individual approaches are usually being used). The author of the thesis presents homelessness as a consequence of the economic system which orders out a certain part of population. This part cannot attain the minimum measure of the chance to consume which would sustain a secure life. The concept of hybrid, which is the integral part of the actor-network-theory and it originates in the works of Bruno Latour, allows us to interpret home through the interconnection of material objects and social relationship. This approach leads to disengagement from the atypical form of unconventional homes and to thinking about them as about a normal way of housing. The basis of the ethnographic research is the perspective of the material culture studies. In the framework of this perspective, individual dwellings (inhabited by the class of the poorest) are examined. The research contains an analysis of nine such dwellings in...

The interest for doing this study is developed during my time as a student in textile history atUppsala university, Sweden. Textile history, as it is taught in Uppsala, uses both practical andtheoretical knowledge as a base for analysing, understanding and interpreting, textiles as sourcematerial in research. As a student in textile history I have sometimes experienced a lack ofunderstanding for the position it takes in the academic field, both from people within the textilehistorical field and from the outside. In this study, I take the opportunity to explore this position.I understand textile history research as a field in between the practical and theoretical.Knowledge in craft are used as a base for understanding source material, but are then oftenconnected to the theoretical framework of Material culture studies (MCS) for interpretation.But, even though this is an often-used theory, the problems of finding relevant texts and frame-works are difficult.By generating a grounded theory about the field of craft- and practical research in Swe-den, and then moving on to see what kind of literature the field of MCS can offer, I discuss theposition that textile historical research take between them. The generated theory shows that themain concern in the field of practical research are the aim to be an accepted part of the academy.The analysis of the literature in the field of MCS shows that the areas of technology and materialsciences need tools to understand the human aspect of production. From this I conclude thattextile history, as a field that is already part of creating a meeting between practical researchand MCS, could well take up the position to write its own theories. Theories grounded in prac-tical knowledge, but as a part of the field of MCS. Doing that would be of gain for both fields,and for the textile historians inhabiting and creating a meeting in between the fields.

Uppsala University Library owns eight volumes of manuscripts attributed to the academy equerry Johan Leven Ekelund (c.1701−1775). In this thesis, I apply methods from the field of material culture studies in order to establish which of the volumes that formed the donation from Leven to the library mentioned in his will. By mapping certain markers such as places, names and dates I am able to identify to some extent where Leven gained his practical skills and which writers influenced him. By analysing the texts, I draw the conclusion that the manuscripts can be divided into groups aimed for different audiences. Some of them fit in an utilitarian context, some of them aim to give riding and horsemanship scientific legitimacy. Some are aimed for a narrow circle of peers, connaisseurs of the art of riding. By examining Leven’s networks, I seek to shed light on whether he wrote in order to further his career. My conclusion is that in that case, Leven’s main focus was probably to help his son, who had a remarkably successful career as a physician after the death of his father. / <p>Orcid nr: 0000-0002-8791-4109</p>

[pt] A presente pesquisa objetiva iluminar a participação do livro dentro de um recorte específico da arte contemporânea, na expectativa de talvez ali encontrá-lo como organismo vivo, inacabado, não restrito às habituais representações – neste campo que busca não raro descontruir o lugar das representações e provocá-las com impermanências. Observamos o livro sob a proposição de apresentar-se ali como coisa, elemento material descansado do signo social e literário, produzindo obstáculos conceituais. Partindo da distinção objeto e coisa, a tese sugere haver ainda na contemporaneidade uma relação possível entre materiais, experiência e não-automatismo, ainda que estejamos constantemente envolvidos por um univer-so bastante amplo e onipresente dos signos. Investe, por isso, em atuações não naturalizadas do livro, nas quais os significados se apresentam transitórios e flutuantes - nunca permanentes, nunca antes -, estando em movimento constante a cada interação -, uma relação singular e dialética entre pessoas e coisas, que, segundo autores aqui trabalhados, construiria simultaneamente a ambos. Buscando experimentar as estranhezas no contato com objetos que não se deixam definir - diante da perspectiva de coisa -, a pesquisa reúne proposições de artistas que fizeram uso do livro como material e instrumento da arte. Movimentos artísticos, buscando a libertação dos padrões clássicos funcionam de base para a construção da categoria Livro-Coisa, quando se sugere experimentar o livro antes das palavras e das representações. A categoria torna-se depois materializada em uma instalação artística. A tese encontra fundamentação teórica nos estudos da Cultura Material, a partir de expoentes como Daniel Miller e Tim Ingold, em diálogo com os pressupostos de Heidegger, Didi-Huberman, e outros autores, para, a partir desse todo teórico, refletir acerca da relação contemporânea entre pessoas e coisas, e abordar o objeto com alguma novidade. / [en] This research focuses on the position occupied by the book in a specific segment of contemporary art, with the expectation of perhaps encountering it as a living, unfinished organism, not restricted to its usual representations - in a field that often seeks to deconstruct social representations by challenging them with impermanence. In our proposition, we see the book presenting itself as a thing, a material element resting somewhere beyond social and literary signs, building conceptual barriers. Starting from the distinction between object and thing, this dissertation suggests that even in contemporaneity there is a possible relationship among materials, experience and non-automatism, despite the fact that we are permanently surrounded by a very broad, omnipresent universe of signs. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on non-naturalized performances of the book, where meanings are transient and fluctuating - never permanent, never before - being in constant motion at every interaction - a singular, dialectic relationship between people and things, which, according to the authors analyzed, would construct both simultaneously. Seeking to experience the strangeness of the contact with objects that do not accept definitions - from the perspective of things -, this dissertation brings together propositions of artists who made use of the book as a material and instrument of art. Art movements seeking liberation from classical patterns serve as the basis for the construction of the Book-Thing category, when it is suggested that the book be experienced before words and representations. This category then becomes materialized in an artistic installation. The theoretical foundation of the dissertation lies in Material Culture Studies, based on exponents such as Daniel Miller and Tim Ingold dialoguing with the assumptions of Heidegger, Didi-Huberman and other authors; starting from this theoretical framework, it seeks to reflect on the contemporary relationship between people and things, in an innovative approach to the object.

Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt für die Bildwissenschaften eine methodische Grundlage dar, Kleidung im Bild als Konstruktion zu begreifen und zu interpretieren. Anhand der eindrucksvollen Patronageprojekte der Familie Tornabuoni – einer gerade emporgestiegenen Kaufmannsfamilie im Umkreis der Medici – werden die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen von symbolischer Kommunikation in der Florentiner Frühneuzeit untersucht. Unter anderem über Symbole wurde die Position im Gesellschaftsgefüge des unsicheren frühneuzeitlichen Regierungsklimas immer wieder neu hergestellt und von Neuem ausgehandelt. Die gewählte Bildgarderobe ist dafür ein hervorstechendes Beispiel. / The thesis presents an art historical methodology that assesses clothing and its pictorial representations in order to interpret how material culture relates to social construction. Using as an example an impressive patronage project of the Tornabuoni family – a newly rich family of merchants in the circle of the Medici – reveals the possibilities as well as the limitations of symbolic communication through dress in early modern Florence. In addition to outward style, these subtle symbols helped to establish and renegotiate their bearer’s position in the shifting hierarchy of an uncertain political climate. By closely examining Tornabuoni commissions, the thesis demonstrates how clothing is a critical means of understanding social motivations and aspirations.

<p>Since the late 1970s, biomedical researchers have heavily invested in the development of portable insulin pumps that allow people with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) to carry several days-worth of insulin to be injected on an as-needed basis. That means fewer needles and syringes, making regular insulin injections less time consuming and troublesome. As insulin pump use has become more widespread over the past twenty years among people with T1D, the social and cultural effects of using these medical devices on their everyday experiences have become both increasingly apparent for individuals yet consistently absent from social and cultural studies of the disease.</p><p><br></p><p>In this dissertation, I explore the technological, medical, and cultural networks of insulin pump treatment to identify the role(s) these biomedicalized treatment acts play in the structuring of people, their bodies, and the cultural values constructed around various medical technologies. As I will show, insulin pump treatment alters people’s bodies and identities as devices become integrated as co-productive actors within patient-users’ biological and social systems. By analyzing personal interviews and digital media produced by people with T1D alongside archival materials, this study identifies compulsory patterns in the practices, structures, and narratives related to insulin pump use to center chapters around the productive (and sometimes stifling) relationship between people, bodies, technologies, and American culture.</p><p><br></p><p>By analyzing the layered and intersecting sites of insulin pump treatment together, this project reveals how medical technologies, health identities, bodies, and cultures are co-constructed and co-defined in ways that bind them together—mutually constitutive, medically compelled, cultural and social. New bodies and new systems, I argue, come with new (in)visibilities, and while this new technologically-produced legibility of the body provides unprecedented management of the symptoms and side-effects of the disease, it also brings with it unforeseen social consequences that require changes to people’s everyday lives and practices. </p>

<div> <p>The idea of “the book” overflows with extraneous significance: books are presented as windows, gateways, vessels, lighthouses, and gardens. Books speak to us and feed us, and they are a method of escape. The book has long represented much more than a static, hinged, bound, covered object inscribed with words. Even when a book is not performing an elaborate, imaginative function, the word “book” very often signifies the text it holds or even the text’s author: You can open <i>The Bluest Eye</i> or carry Toni Morrison in your bag. Fourteenth-century author Geoffrey Chaucer invokes a “book” by “Lollius” as authoritative source of his<i> Troilus and Criseyde</i>, though no person exists; likewise, to conclude the same text, Chaucer asks directs his project to “go, litel bok, go.” When a book makes an appearance in narrative, it is rarely j<i>ust a book</i>—without legs, the book moves, and without breath, it lives. This dissertation asks what about the shape of the codex has helped the book become such a metaphorically rich signifier.<br></p> <p>This dissertation attempts to unravel the various threads of meaning that make up the complex “idea of the book.” I focus on one of these threads: the book as a material object. By focusing on how the book as object—not the book as idea—functions within narrative, I argue that we can identify what about the book object enables its metaphorical range. I analyze moments in literature, television, and film when metaphorical functions are assigned, not to an ephemeral, complex idea of the book, but rather to the material realities of the book as an object. In these moments, the codex’s essential, material shape (what I am calling its bookishness) enables metaphorical functioning; I show that, by examining when mundanely physical bindings, pages, covers, and spines initiate metaphorical action, we can identify how the material book has come to mean so much more than itself.</p> <p><a></a>Indeed, despite a renewed appreciation for the book as both material and cultural object, books have become so significantly meaningful that attempts to define “the book” evade simplicity, rendering books as everything and nothing at the same time. My inquire explores this complexity by starting with a simple premise: Metaphors are based on some element of physical truth. Though the book has sprouted in a variety of metaphorical directions, many of those metaphors are grounded in the book’s material realities. Acknowledging this, especially in an age of fast-evolving media and bookish fetishism, offers a valuable and novel perspective on how and why books are both semantically rich and culturally valued objects.</p> </div> <br>