Anthropology 121AC: American Material Culture

Fall 2013
T & Th 2-3:30pm, A1 Hearst Annex (PFA Theater)

Dr. Kim Christensen

Kchristensen@berkeley.edu
Office Hours:
Wednesdays 1:00-3:00pm or by appt.
Location: 51 Barrows

Course Description:
Throughout American history, the material culture of everyday life has participated actively
in individuals own experiences while connecting those individuals to broader social,
cultural, economic, and political stories of how we became the people we are today.
This course examines material and societal patterns of American daily life and culture from
the 17 th century to the present, employing archaeological and historical approaches to goods
and commodities, landscape, foodways, and architecture as they constructed and
communicated American identities. We will explore the ways that industrialization and
modernization produced a world of commercial goods, and newly structured spaces and
places where Americans worked and lived. In viewing these changing relationships between
people and goods, discussions will focus on the relationships people built with commercially
produced artifacts in different times and places.
Students will encounter the diversity of past American experiences through lecture, reading,
and discussion of examples considering Native-American, African-American, AsianAmerican, and Euro-American peoples, women and families, and rural and urban contexts.
We will work toward an understanding of how material culture worked meaningfully in the
past, and how scholars today integrate artifacts and texts to build our interpretations.
Texts:
Deetz, James
1996 In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life. Revised and
Expanded Edition. Anchor Books, New Y ork.
Selected daily readings will be available on bSpace.
Course Requirements:
Y ou will demonstrate your ability to synthesize ideas from lecture materials, readings, guest
lectures, and other media with your own experiences and research in a take-home mid-term
and a final group project or research paper.
The midterm will be assigned two weeks before the due-date, and you will be expected to
submit a typed copy which includes internal citations and a final References Cited section.
While you are encouraged to discuss the questions and materials with other students, you
are expected to write your exam individually. The midterm will be worth 40% of your final
grade.
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For the final project, you have the choice of participating in a group project or
independently producing a research paper. For both, you will conduct research into some
aspect of American material culture. These options will be discussed more fully in class.
The final paper or group project is worth 50% of your final grade.
Y ou are expected to attend lecture, complete all assigned readings, consult with the
instructor regarding your final project, and generally participate actively in class.
Attendance and participation constitute 10% of your final grade.
Grade Breakdown:
Attendance and participation: 10%
Midterm exam (Assigned 9/26; Due 10/10): 40%
Final paper or group project (Assigned 10/10; Due 12/17): 50%
Course Policies:
Class Participation. We will be dealing with topics in this course about which individuals
may have strong and differing views. We will want to create an atmosphere that allows for a
diversity of opinion. Debate and open discussion about individual views are welcome to the
extent that they enhance learning and an intellectual atmosphere.
Plagiarism. All assignments are required to reflect original and independent work unless
cleared with the instructor in advance. Plagiarism is not acceptable under any circumstance.
Ignorance is not an excuse for plagiarism. Students should be aware that plagiarism and
cheating can be cause for failing the assignment or class, or, in more serious instances,
suspension or expulsion from the university.
Late Work. Extensions will be considered for the exams only in cases of documented
illness or emergency or other extraordinary circumstances. When an extension may be
possible it should be arranged at least 48 hours in advance of the due date. Pressure from
work on other courses is not a valid reason for an extension. Grades for all unapproved late
work regardless of the reason will be reduced by 10 points for each day late.
Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance. If you have a disability, you are
encouraged to register for disability support services. If you require an accommodation,
please advise the instructor by the end of the first week of class. Y ou will be required to
provide written documentation to support these accommodations. The instructor will work
with you to provide reasonable accommodations to ensure that you have a fair opportunity
to perform and participate in class.
Conferences with the Instructor. Y ou are heartily encouraged to stop by my office
during my office hours or other times by prior appointment to discuss any aspect of the
course. I am happy to clarify course readings or concepts, assist in your writing at any stage,
and/or address any concerns you may have about the class.

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Class Calendar:
Week 1:
Thursday, August 29t h : Introduction to the course - Why American Material
Culture, and why Historical Archaeology?
No reading.

Week 2:
Tuesday, September 3rd: Overview of Archaeological Concepts and Methods,
and Becoming American: Dynamics of Culture
Deetz, James.
1996 Chapters 1, 2 and 3 from In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early
American Life. Revised and Expanded Edition. New Y ork: Anchor Books.
And
Lightfoot, Kent G., Antoinette Martinez, and Ann M. Schiff
1998 Daily Practice and Material Culture in Pluralistic Social Settings: An Archaeological
Study of Culture Change and Persistence From Fort Ross, California. American Antiquity
63(2):199-222.
Thursday, September 5t h : Native American Traditions and Culture Contact I
(Spanish)
Deagan, Kathleen and Jse Maria Cruxent
1993 From contact to criollos: archaeology of Spanish colonization in Hispaniola. In Meeting
of Two Worlds: Europe and the Americas 1492-1650. Warwick Bray, ed. pp. 67-104. Oxford :
Oxford University Press. (includes tons of illustrations )
And
Blind, Eric B.; Voss, Barbara L.; Osborn, Sannie Kenton; Barker, Leo R.
2004 El Presidio de San Francisco: at the edge of empire. Presidios of the North American
Spanish Borderlands, Historical Archaeology 38(3):135-149.

Anthropology 121AC, Fall 2013 - 3

Week 3:
Tuesday, September 10t h : Native American Traditions and Culture Contact II
(Northeast)
Silliman, Stephen
2009 Change and Continuity, Practice and Memory: Native American Persistence in
Colonial New England. American Antiquity 74(2): 211230.
And
Deetz, James and Patricia S. Deetz
2000 Partakers of Our Plenty: The Pilgrim Myth. In The Times of their Lives: Life, Love,
and Death in Plymouth Colony. pp.129. New Y ork: W. H. Freeman.
Thursday, September 12t h : Guest lecture by Heather Law
No reading.

Week 4:
Tuesday, September 17 t h : The growth of the slave-based economy, and the
construction of race in American society
Deetz, James.
1996 Chapters 7, 8, and 9 from In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early
American Life. Revised and Expanded Edition. New Y ork: Anchor Books.
Thursday, September 19t h : African resistance to colonial hegemonies
Franklin, Maria
2001 The Archaeological Dimension of Soul Food: Interpreting Race, Culture, and AfroVirginian Identity. In Race and the Archaeology of Identity. Charles E. Orser Jr., ed.
pp.88-107. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press.

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Week 5:
Tuesday, September 24t h : Guest lecture by Annelise Morris: Archaeology and
the African Diaspora: Material Culture from a 19th Century Farmstead.
No reading.
Thursday, September 26t h : Creolization Several case studies & The Georgian
Mindset
Midterm assigned.
Silvia, Diane
2002 Native American and French Cultural Dynamics on the Gulf Coast. Historical
Archaeology 36(1):26-35.
And
Leone, Mark
1988 The Georgian Order as the order of merchant capitalism in Annapolis, Maryland. In
The Recovery of Meaning: Historical Archaeology in the Eastern United States. M. Leone
and Parker B. Potter, eds. Pp.235-261. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
And
Deetz, James.
1996 Chapters 4, 5, and 6 from In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early
American Life. Revised and Expanded Edition. New Y ork: Anchor Books.

Week 6:
Tuesday, October 1 st : The Victorian Home and the Cult of True Womanhood
Claney, Jane Perkins
2004 Chapter 5: Rockingham Ware and Gender Identity, from Rockingham Ware in
American Culture 1830-1930: Reading Historical Artifacts. pp. 80-111.
Lebanon (NH): University Press of New England.
Thursday, October 3rd: Women's Bodies, Control, and the Corset
Fields, Jill
1999 Fighting the Corsetless Evil: Shaping Corsets and Culture, 1900-1930. Journal of
Social History 33(2): 355-384.

Anthropology 121AC, Fall 2013 - 5

Week 7:
Tuesday, October 8t h : Protest Movements and Communities of Critique
Van Wormer, Heather
2006 The Ties That Bind: Ideology, Material Culture, and the Utopian Ideal. Historical
Archaeology 40(1):37-56.
And
Kruczek-Aaron, Hadley
2002 Choice Flowers and Well-Ordered Tables: Struggling over Gender in a NineteenthCentury Household. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 6(3):173-185.
Thursday, October 10t h : Institutions and Communities of Control
Midterm due.
Final Project Assigned.
De Cunzo, Lu Ann
2001 On Reforming the 'Fallen' and Beyond: Transforming Continuity at the Magdalen
Society of Philadelphia, 1845-1916. International Journal of Historical Archaeology
5(1):19-43.

Week 8:
Tuesday, October 15t h : Ethnomedicine: Curing traditions and technology
Wilkie, Laurie A
2003 Chapter 7: Midwifery and Scientific Mothering. From The Archaeology of Mothering:
An African-American Midwifes Tale. pp.177-207. New Y ork: Routledge.
Thursday, October 17 t h : TBA
Final Project sign-up due.

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Week 9:
Tuesday, October 22n d: The Material Culture of Death and Mourning in
America
[Review] Deetz, James.
1996. Chapter 4(Remember Me as Y ou Pass By), from In Small Things Forgotten: An
Archaeology of Early American Life. Revised and Expanded Edition. New Y ork: Anchor
Books.
And
Meinwald, Daniel 1990. Memento Mori: Death and Photography in 19th -century America.
California History of Photography Bulletin 9 (4).
Thursday, October 24t h : Final research project: How to find sources
1 st in-class group meeting.
No reading.

Week 10:
Tuesday, October 29t h : The Making of the American West
Clark, Bonnie J.
2005 Lived ethnicity: archaeology and identity in Mexicano America. World Archaeology
37(3): 440452.
Thursday, October 31 st : Guest lecture by Chris Lowman: Archaeology of ChineseAmerican Communities
Voss, Barbara L.
2005 The Archaeology of Overseas Chinese Communities. World Archaeology 37(3):424439.
And
Tam, Shirley Sui Ling
2002 The Recurrent Image of the Coolie: Representations of Chinese American Labor in
American Periodicals, 1900-1924. In The Chinese in America: A History from Gold
Mountain to the New Millennium, pp. 124-139. Alta Mira Press, Walnut Creek.

Anthropology 121AC, Fall 2013 - 7

Week 11:
Tuesday, November 5t h : Developing Race and Ethnicity in American Cities &
Lived Experiences of 19t h -Century Racism
Cantwell, Anne-Marie and Diana diZerega Wall
2001 Chapters 11 (Urban Space in the Colonial and Post-Revolutionary City) and 12 (Daily
Life in the Nineteenth-Century City). From Unearthing Gotham: The Archaeology of New
Y ork City. New Haven: Y ale University Press.
And
Roediger, David
2007 Chapter 7: Irish-American Workers and White Racial Formation in the Antebellum
United States. In The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working
Class. Revised Edition. New Y ork: Verso. pp.133-163.
And
Mullins, Paul
1999 Race and the Genteel Consumer: Class and the African American Consumption, 18501930. Historical Archaeology 33(1):22-38.
Thursday, November 7 t h : Final research project
2n d in-class group meeting.
No reading.

Week 12:
Tuesday, November 12t h : Consumerism and Marketing American Culture
Leach, William
1993 Chapter 1: The Dawn of a Commercial Empire. From Land of Desire: Merchants,
Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture. pp.15-38. New Y ork: Vintage Books.
Thursday, November 14t h : Final research project
3rd in-class group meeting.
No reading.

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Week 13:
Tuesday, November 19t h : Tensions in 20t h century citizenship and race
Camp, Stacey
2011 Consuming Citizenship? The Archaeology of Mexican Immigrant Ambivalence in
Early Twentieth-Century Los Angeles. International Journal of Historical Archaeology
15(3):305-328.
And
Skiles, Stephanie A. and Bonnie J. Clark
2010 When the Foreign is not Exotic: Ceramics at Colorados WWII Japanese Internment
Camp. In Trade and Exchange: Archaeological Studies. C.D. Dillian and C.L. White, eds.
pp.179-192. New Y ork: Springer.
Thursday, November 21 st : American Anthropological Association Meeting in
Chicago NO CLASS
No reading. Work on your final project!

Week 14:
Tuesday, November 26t h : Archaeology in Our Own Backyard - The History and
Archaeology of UC Berkeley Campus
Wilkie, Laurie A., Kim Christensen, and Michael A. Way
2010 Digging in the Golden Bears' Den: Archaeology at the University of California,
Berkeley, In Three Voices. In Beneath the Ivory Tower: The Archaeology of Academia. R.
Skowronek and K. Lewis, eds. pp. 225-241. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Thursday, November 28t h : Thanksgiving Holiday NO CLASS!
No reading. Work on your final project!

Week 15:
Tuesday, December 3rd: Group Project Final Presentations
No reading.
Thursday, December 5t h : Group Project Final Presentations and Course Wrapup: Material Culture & the American Experience
Anthropology 121AC, Fall 2013 - 9

No reading.

Final Project:
Tuesday, December 17 t h 2013: Final Project Paper due
The final project paper (for both groups and individuals) must be turned in between 9:00
and 11:00am at my office hours location.

Anthropology 121AC, Fall 2013 - 10