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Mystery Object #18: Foreigner Costume

May 30, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

“Hi, I’m a foreigner.” Over twenty years ago, while shopping at a store in Japan I came across a party novelty “foreigner” (gaijin) costume set–for dressing as a foreigner at parties. In this case it meant a specific kind of foreigner. The set came complete with a large white nose and two tape-on blue eyes. I immediately bought the kit figuring that I would use it in a future anthropology class. Unfortunately the costume got lost in some move or […]

Categories: Bodies, Mystery Objects, Race, Representation, Toys • Tags: blue eyes, costume, gaijin, nose

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Antique Theory: Race

October 5, 2013 by Museum Fatigue

Encountering the warm objects of an antique store can be a pleasurable experience that negotiates memories and nostalgia of the past. Walking among these objects, however, there are jarring moments when one comes face to face with objects inspired by foreign understandings—past understandings of gender, class, work and other common categories often fascinate and even alienate. The most startling of these objects, however, are those collected or created things that reflect past racist or cultural-essentalist assumptions. On a recent trip […]

Categories: Antiques, Collecting, Photo Essays, Race • Tags: antique collecting, collectibles, dolls, figures, Orientalism, racism

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Mystery Object #12: Flesh Crayon

September 21, 2013 by Museum Fatigue

Antique stores are useful repositories for objects that evoke memories of the past. Nearly every time I visit an antique store I am confronted with a few objects that evoke things long forgotten. Sometimes I find objects from a time before I was born that confound me with their alien common-sense assumptions. About a week before fall semester started, on the way back from a canoe trip, we stopped in an antique store in Lindstrom, Minnesota. While looking through the […]

Categories: Antiques, Mystery Objects, Nostalgia, Play, Race • Tags: antiques, Crayola, Crayons, flesh crayon

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