Anthropological perspectives on material and visual culture

This module introduces students to anthropological approaches to material and visual culture, focusing on the relationships between people, things, and images. The course explores how different peoples have shaped their lives through material and visual culture, including processes such as using the body to transform environmental materials into objects, incorporating objects into domestic life and homemaking, remembering the past through visual and material practices, consuming and displaying objects and images, and transforming the self in life-cycle rituals such as weddings and funerals. Additionally, it delves into the creation of powerful things and images, such as 'magic' or 'art'.
Students will be introduced to key theoretical and ethnographic texts in material and visual culture. They will consider how people depend on things, how things endure to help bind society together through time, and how the destruction of things is linked to the destruction of people, as well as the creation of images. We will explore a range of anthropological texts related to specific themes, such as clothing and architecture, exploring the play roles played in our lives and societies. However, as we depend on and care for things, material culture can become entrapping. Some things can be unruly, fall apart, and become difficult to manage. The ethnographic readings and short practical exercises will help students develop a critical understanding of how past peoples have interacted with the material and visual world, what these interactions tell us about contemporary society, and how material culture approaches help us imagine environmentally and socially sustainable futures.
The seminar will be conducted in English, as will the readings. However, students are welcome to speak German in class and to submit their course requirements and MAPs in German. Slides and notes will be made available to students, and they are encouraged to contact the lecturer about any additional learning needs: Magdalena.buchczyk@hu-berlin.de.