MUSEUM FATIGUE

The Split Presence of the Tourist: Battambang, Cambodia

January 18, 2015 by Museum Fatigue

While enjoying breakfast in a local restaurant on the street in Battambang, Cambodia, I captured a wonderful moment that highlights some of the contradictions of tourism. Two tourists, sitting in the comfortable posture of the lounge chair attached to the front of a sightseeing tricycle, passed by. Each wore dark sunglasses and large white headphones. They stare ahead watching the streetscape unfold to the personalized audio soundtrack of narration or music. They are in the city and yet distinctly apart from it—both […]

Categories: Photo Essays, Random Reflections, Tourism • Tags: Battambang, Cambodia

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“We No Longer Need Weapons” Siem Reap, Cambodia

January 12, 2015 by Museum Fatigue

Yesterday afternoon, while driving on the outskirts of Siem Reap, we passed this hand-painted propaganda poster outside of a hospital. I’ve been too busy for much blogging lately, but do want to make more of an effort to keep posting interesting things–especially while I am here in Cambodia.

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Cambodia, propaganda poster, Siem Reap, violence, weapons

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Cultural Categories: Christmas Lights

December 10, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

Categories: Mythologies • Tags: Christmas, Christmas Carol, holidays, lights, Nativity Scene, Santa Claus

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Hall of Heroes Superhero Museum

November 30, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

The holiday weekend has given me a little extra time to go through images from last summer’s midwestern road trip—including the Hall of Heroes Superhero Museum. Before much more time passes I thought I should get images up on my Flickr feed and at least make a short post here. The museum is located in a two-story structure behind the owner’s home in the outskirts of Elkhardt, Indiana. It is not just any structure, but built in a form of […]

Categories: Collecting, Museums, Popular Culture • Tags: action figures, cabinet of curiosity, collectibles, collections, comic book collector, comic books, Hall of Heroes, Stan Lee, superheroes

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Mystery Object #21: Frosted Turkey Cake

November 27, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

This Thanksgiving featured something that I just couldn’t resist adding to my online collection of mystery objects—a cake frosted to look like a roast turkey, complete with frosted lettuce and carrot garnish. (I took a photo of it next to a butter dish for effect.) Why anyone would ever want a cake-shaped meat is beyond me, but its curious existence was a source of joy for folks assembled at our Thanksgiving table. Such a unique sugary creation harkens back to […]

Categories: Food, Mystery Objects • Tags: Sidney Mintz, sugar, Thanksgiving, turkey

Good Food Class: Ramen Cookoff

November 15, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

“In fact, instant noodles may well be the most successful industrially produced food, at least in terms of world penetration: they constitute a huge social reality—and one inviting attention. Much like sugar, instant noodles are a capitalist provision that provisions capitalism…Because they feed people quickly and cheaply, they appeal to busy and economy-minded people everywhere” (Errington, Fujikura and Gewertz 2013: 6). This last week our Good Food First-Year Seminar finished reading The Noodle Narratives: The Global Rise of an Industrial Food […]

Categories: Anthropology, Assignments, Food, FYSEM: Good Food • Tags: class activity, Deborah Gewertz, food, Frederick Errington, ramen, Tatsuro Fujikura, The Noodle Narratives

Good Food Class Midterm Tasting Meal, Part Two

October 18, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

This past Monday night our First Year Seminar gathered together for a food tasting meal—an event that gave us a chance to taste a wide variety of foods in dialogue with the books we have been reading and discussing so far this semester. In Part One of this post I summarized some of those books, our menu and the experience of shopping for all of the items—complete with photos. While dreaming up that menu and shopping for the foods […]

Categories: Assignments, Education, Food, FYSEM: Good Food • Tags: American food system, Colossal Cafe, Farmers Market, FYSEM, meals, organic, Pizza Luce, Sara Lee® Apple Pie, supermarket

Good Food Class Midterm Tasting Meal, Part One

October 12, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

This semester I am teaching a First Year Seminar titled Good Food: Eating and Culture. For the first half of the semester we have been learning about different aspects of the American food system and its history. Beginning with Michael Pollan’s classic Omnivore’s Dilemma and James E. McWilliams Just Food: Where Locavores Get it Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly, this past week we have been wading into Susan Friedberg’s excellent social history of food and technology, Fresh: A Perishable History. Along the […]

Categories: Assignments, Education, Food, FYSEM: Good Food • Tags: American food system, cheese, Farmers Market, Fruits, FYSEM, James McWilliams, meal, Meat, Michael Pollan, Rainbow Foods, supermarket, Susan Friedberg, Vegetables

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Zuccotti Park: Passive Recreation Only

October 10, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

This past weekend, while in New York City I walked through Zuccotti Park, the birthplace of Occupy Wall Street. I couldn’t help but notice the new notice that was clearly much more recently installed than the earlier weathered notice beside it. Rather than the simple, familiar text of “No Skateboarding, Rollerblading, or Bicycling Allowed in the Park”—one that leaves all other activities open to public interpretation—the new text reads with the detailed care of a legal document. The notice clarifies […]

Categories: Space, State of Emergency, Urban • Tags: passive recreation, private space, public space, Saskia Sassen, Zuccotti Park

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American Chinese Food

October 10, 2014 by Museum Fatigue

This past weekend while visiting a nice Sichuan Restaurant in New York City I was surprised to note that the menu had its own category of “American Chinese Food.”

Categories: Categories, Food • Tags: American Chinese Food, General Tso's Chicken

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