It examines the meanings people have invested in objects and how those meanings have changed over time. Using interdisciplinary approaches, students investigate objects found in homes, retail spaces, cities, art galleries and museums in order to develop new understandings of the objects that structure their daily lives and their material world. Students will apply theoretical lenses to understand how objects – relics, icons, effigies, charms, amulets – are transformed through, and become instruments of, rituals that control, placate, or please the supernatural world. The course brings together a range of disciplines and perspectives to contextualize and to challenge our perception of the material manifestations of magic.
It examines the meanings people have invested in objects and how those meanings have changed over time. Using interdisciplinary approaches, students investigate objects found in homes, retail spaces, cities, art galleries and museums in order to develop new understandings of the objects that structure their daily lives and their material world. Students will apply theoretical lenses to understand how objects – relics, icons, effigies, charms, amulets – are transformed through, and become instruments of, rituals that control, placate, or please the supernatural world. The course brings together a range of disciplines and perspectives to contextualize and to challenge our perception of the material manifestations of magic.
