MUSEUM FATIGUE

Mystery Object #6: June 4th Commemorative Poster (六四宣传画)

November 20, 2012 by Museum Fatigue

This evening while going through a collection of old posters I came across a poster that I collected in early 1990 while studying abroad in Chengdu. The low quality paper is already yellowing and has a slight tear, otherwise it is in pretty good condition. One of a printing of only 10,000 copies, it originally sold for ¥.08. For a city of over 7 million people, that is a very small number. I imagine that there might only be a few […]

Categories: China, Mystery Objects • Tags: June 4, propaganda poster, Tiananmen, 六四

Don’t Fear The Twinkie Apocalypse

November 18, 2012 by Museum Fatigue

“Preparing for the Twinkpocalypse.” Recently it seems that any little thing might be a sign of The End of Days. We have endured the threat of an avian flu apocalypse and an unrelated, but unnerving bird apocalypse. There have been snopocalypses, a few snomageddons, or stormageddons. Fears of swine flu inspired Pork-pocalypse. On the horizon there are various immanent economic apocalypses. It seems that every few months the arrival of an invasive species, an unexpected weather event, spreading disease, natural disaster or humanmade catastrophe is interpreted as a […]

Categories: Consumption, Corporate Culture, End of Times, Food, Labor, Zombie • Tags: apocalypse, armageddon, food, Hostess, Twinkie, unions

An Apple is an Apple, Except When It’s a Sign of Satan

November 12, 2012 by Museum Fatigue

As an anthropology professor who regularly teaches classes dealing with material culture and issues of representation, every semester we discuss the ways that humans ascribe meanings to objects—reading them in the terms of the preexisting cultural categories they bring with them. In the context of museums Eilean Hooper-Greenhill (2000) describes these groups as “interpretive communities.” I like this phrase because it foregrounds the fact that interpretation is never entirely individual—but is informed by sociocultural context. It also emphasizes that there is never […]

Categories: Discipline, Everyday Things, iPad, Mythologies • Tags: Apple Computer, Fundamentalism, Religion, satan, technology

Rules to Enter Iowa

October 29, 2012 by Museum Fatigue

I was doing some office cleaning this past weekend when I stumbled upon an object I had collected on a road trip back in 2005—a list of “Rules to Enter Iowa” that I had ripped out of a local gazette in a hotel in Dubuque, Iowa. At the time I imagined it might come in handy for a discussion about socioeconomic class, regional identities or just rural/urban identities more generally. Since I’m not sure when I’ll use it, and I […]

Categories: Mythologies, Tourism • Tags: Gender, Iowa, Race, redstate, rural/urban, Social Class

Midway Conversations: A Neighborhood Documentary

October 27, 2012 by Museum Fatigue

Last Wednesday night, Midway Conversations premiered at the Turf Club. The film was the final project of a collaborative neighborhood-based research project done by the Spring 2012 anthropology senior seminar at Hamline University. The premiere wasn’t without a few last-minute snafus—not least of which was a missing segment in the final copy of the film—but by about 5:45 the popcorn popper was full of hot popcorn and we had a high stack of Checkerboard Pizzas ready to serve. Following a brief introduction, the lights […]

Categories: Documentary, Teaching, Video clips, Visual Anthropology Class • Tags: Anthropology, Hamline Midway, Hamline University, Saint Paul, senior seminar, teaching film

油条: The Simplicity of Oil and Dough

October 26, 2012 by Museum Fatigue

I have always been impressed with the charm of the Chinese youtiao (油条). I find poetry in the simplicity of taking a strip of dough, plopping it in a wok of hot oil and frying it to a golden brown. No spices, no salt, no sugar. No fuss. Just hot oil and dough doing their thing. Youtiao are quick, easy and utilitarian. They are made of the most basic ingredients, can be effortlessly produced by the dozens, and quickly snatched up […]

Categories: China, Everyday Things, Food, Video clips • Tags: food, translation, youtiao

Mystery Object #5: Totem of Emergency Protection +1

October 2, 2012 by Museum Fatigue

Today while leaving campus, as I have each day for ten years, I noticed a new addition to the campus topography. Just at the south edge of campus, between two dorms, was a giant dark brown pole with a big blue light on top. Along the side of the pole, written in large letters was “Emergency & Information.” The pole is called a Code Blue Emergency phone and is one of the fine fear abatement products produced by a company […]

Categories: Discipline, Higher Education, Mystery Objects, Mythologies • Tags: fear, Michel de Certeau, neighborhood, sacred object, safety

Would the Authentic University Please Speak Up!

August 31, 2012 by Museum Fatigue

What does it mean when a university faculty takes a symbolic vote, but the administration “won’t take an official position?” What does it mean when so many universities’ advertising, their senior officials’ speeches, and their mission statements are filled with words like “community,” “responsibility,” “integrity,” “morality,” “truth” or “service”, but then their institutions appear to duck and cover when our public discussion most needs their participation? It is a display of caution over conviction. It marks the ascendancy of marketing […]

Categories: Higher Education, Liberal Arts, Politics • Tags: Augsburg, corporate culture, current-events, faculty, leadership, marketing, Marriage Amendment, St. Olaf

How the Auggies Schooled Minnesota Higher Education on the Marriage Amendment

August 29, 2012 by Museum Fatigue

Higher education in Minnesota has been schooled by the Auggies. Last Wednesday, Augsburg College publicly took a stand stating its opposition to the amendment to the Minnesota constitution that would only recognize marriage as “between one man and one woman.” Their university president, Paul Pribbenow, took the book on “best practices of ‘playing it safe’ in university management” and boldly threw it out the window. In one statement the school publicly asserted its values. It engaged the world. It refuted the homogenous […]

Categories: Higher Education, Liberal Arts, Politics, Random Reflections • Tags: Augsburg, community, current-events, leadership, marketing, Marriage Amendment, Minnesota, politics

Mitt Romney and The Chinese “Slave Labor” Factory

August 26, 2012 by Museum Fatigue

In an interesting video posted this past Friday, Mitt Romney describes a Chinese factory he visited back in his days at Bain Capital. The video was posted on YouTube by someone apparently pretending to be Rachel Maddow of MSNBC with the sensational title, “Mitt Romney admits to using Chinese slave labor at Bain.” Regardless of the source, however, the footage appears to be legitimately from the mouth of Mitt. The short two-minute clip reveals some interesting assumptions about China, globalized labor, and the miscommunications of […]

Categories: China, Global Production, Mythologies • Tags: bain capital, china factories, Chinese workers, consumption, current-events, Mitt Romney, rachel maddow, slave labor

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