Sensible Objects: Colonialism, Museums and Material Culture (Wenner-Gren International Symposium Series)

Anthropologists of the senses have long argued that cultures differ in their sensory registers. This groundbreaking volume applies this idea to material culture and the social practices that endow objects with meanings in both colonial and postcolonial relationships. It challenges the privileged position of the sense of vision in the analysis of material culture. Contributors argue that vision can only be understood in relation to the other senses. In this they present another challenge to the assumed western five-sense model, and show how our understanding of material culture in both historical and contemporary contexts might be reconfigured if we consider the role of smell, taste, feel and sound, as well as sight, in making meanings about objects. Anthropologists Of The Senses Have Long Argued That Cultures Differ In Their Sensory Registers. This Volume Applies This Idea To Material Culture And The Social Practices That Endow Objects With Meanings Both Colonial And Postcolonial Relationships. Enduring And Endearing Feelings And The Transformation Of Material Culture In West Africa / Kathryn Linn Geurts And Elvis Gershon Adikah -- Studio Photography And The Aesthetics Of Citizenship In The Gambia, West Africa / Liam Buckley -- Cooking Skill, The Senses, And Memory : The Fate Of Practical Knowledge / David Sutton -- Mata Ora : Chiseling The Living Face, Dimensions Of Maori Tattoo / Ngahuia Te Akwekotuku / Smoked Fish And Fermented Oil : Taste And Smell Among The Kwakwaka'wakw / Aldona Jonaitis -- Sonic Spectacles Of Empire : The Audio-visual Nexus, Delhi-london, 1911-12 / Tim Barringer -- The Museum As Sensescape : Western Sensibilities And Indigenous Artifacts / Constance Classen And David Howes -- The Fate Of The Senses In Ethnographic Modernity : The Margaret Mead Hall Of Pacific Peoples At The American Museum Of Natural History / Diane Losche -- Contact Points : Museums And The Lost Body Problem / Jeffrey Feldman -- The Beauty Of Letting Go : Fragmentary Museums And Archaeologies Of Archive / Sven Ouzman. Edited By Elizabeth Edwards, Chris Gosden And Ruth B. Phillips. Papers Derived From A Wennger-gren Symposium Entitled Engaging All The Senses : Colonialism, Processes Of Perception And Material Objects, Sept. 26-oct. 2, 2003, Sintra, Portugal. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. ISBN-13: 9781845203238 #,Publisher:,Berg,Publishers,#,Number,Of,Pages:,288,#,Publication,Date:,2006-10-17 Contents 6 List of Figures 8 Notes on Contributors 10 Preface 14 Introduction 16 Part 1: The Senses 48 1. Enduring and Endearing Feelings and the Transformation of Material Culture in West Africa 50 2. Studio Photography and the Aesthetics of Citizenship in The Gambia, West Africa 76 3. Cooking Skill, the Senses, and Memory: The Fate of Practical Knowledge 102 Part 2: Colonialism 134 4. Mata Ora: Chiseling the Living Face, Dimensions of Maori Tattoo 136 5. Smoked Fish and Fermented Oil: Taste and Smell among the Kwakwaka'wakw 156 6. Sonic Spectacles of Empire: The Audio-Visual Nexus, Delhi–London, 1911–12 184 Part 3: Museums 212 7. The Museum as Sensescape: Western Sensibilities and Indigenous Artifacts 214 8. The Fate of the Senses in Ethnographic Modernity: The Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples at the American Museum of Natural History 238 9. Contact Points: Museums and the Lost Body Problem 260 10. The Beauty of Letting Go: Fragmentary Museums and Archaeologies of Archive 284 Index 317 A 317 B 317 C 317 D 318 E 318 F 318 G 318 H 319 I 319 J 319 K 319 L 319 M 319 N 320 O 320 P 320 Q 320 R 320 S 320 T 321 U 321 V 321 W 321 Y 321 Z 321 Contents......Page 6 List of Figures......Page 8 Notes on Contributors......Page 10 Preface......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 Part 1: The Senses......Page 48 1. Enduring and Endearing Feelings and the Transformation of Material Culture in West Africa......Page 50 2. Studio Photography and the Aesthetics of Citizenship in The Gambia, West Africa......Page 76 3. Cooking Skill, the Senses, and Memory: The Fate of Practical Knowledge......Page 102 Part 2: Colonialism......Page 134 4. Mata Ora: Chiseling the Living Face, Dimensions of Maori Tattoo......Page 136 5. Smoked Fish and Fermented Oil: Taste and Smell among the Kwakwaka'wakw......Page 156 6. Sonic Spectacles of Empire: The Audio-Visual Nexus, Delhi–London, 1911–12......Page 184 Part 3: Museums......Page 212 7. The Museum as Sensescape: Western Sensibilities and Indigenous Artifacts......Page 214 8. The Fate of the Senses in Ethnographic Modernity: The Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples at the American Museum of Natural History......Page 238 9. Contact Points: Museums and the Lost Body Problem......Page 260 10. The Beauty of Letting Go: Fragmentary Museums and Archaeologies of Archive......Page 284 C......Page 317 G......Page 318 M......Page 319 S......Page 320 Z......Page 321

Anthropologists of the senses have long argued that cultures differ in their sensory registers. This groundbreaking volume applies this idea to material culture and the social practices that endow objects with meanings in both colonial and postcolonial relationships. It challenges the privileged position of the sense of vision in the analysis of material culture. Contributors argue that vision can only be understood in relation to the other senses. In this they present another challenge to the assumed western five-sense model, and show how our understanding of material culture in both historical and contemporary contexts might be reconfigured if we consider the role of smell, taste, touch and sound, as well as sight, in making meanings about objects.