Left Coast Press : What Objects Mean

Cover

Table of Contents
What Objects Mean
An Introduction to Material Culture
Arthur Asa Berger
248 pp. / 6.00 x 9.00 / May, 2009
Hardback (978-1-59874-410-1)
Paperback (978-1-59874-411-8)

Related Interest
- Anthropology
- Archaeology
- Communications & Media Studies
- Cultural Studies & the Arts

Objects, artifacts, and other forms of material culture are studied in many different parts of the university. Yet, to date, there has been no introductory book that allows students to understand the basic ways in which material culture can be studied. Arthur Asa Berger, author of an array of texts in communication, popular culture, and social theory, provides a brief, user-friendly guide for students learning what objects can mean. He takes the reader through half a dozen theoretical models that are commonly used to understand objects. He then describes and analyzes fifteen objects, showing how they demonstrate ideas like authenticity, globalization, and identity. Berger provides a series of exercises at the end to allow students to do their own analyses of objects in their environment. Brief and inexpensive enough to be included as a component in courses ranging from anthropology to art history, pop culture to psychology, Berger’s introductory guide to material culture will be of use to many instructors and their students.