This course explores the ways in which objects and material culture embody personal narrative. Moving back and forth from ephemeral traces of events and experiences to the culturally invested luxury goods that create legacy to the objects that facilitate daily life, this class will use, as its primary references, examples that draw from queer and African American cultures to underscore the potential of objects to tell the stories that not only reflect majority traditions and experiences but those of the disenfranchised, the details of whose lives are often obscured. In addition to readings that will provide background for class discussion, student will be asked to play the roles of detectives, archeologists, and curators at various sites around New York City. Each student will also be asked to create an annotated material record that reveals the public and private lives of one individual. That record may consist of texts, objects or any variety of media chosen or designed by the student. This blogs serves as an archive for the work done in the context of this course and related materials that become relevant to this exploration.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Why Hoarding Happens

This is a really interesting article about the psychology behind hoarding and how people attach meaning and need to otherwise meaningless and unnecessary objects. It's interesting in relation to the class because it shows how people feel they need to have objects. And also how complex and subconscious the attachments to those objects can be.

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/hoarding-science-55196/

Posted by Briana Lynch
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