F15 Roberts - ANTHRCUL 158 - The Anthropology of Garbage

Cultural Anthropology (AnthrCul) 158 The Anthropology of Garbage Elizabeth Roberts Why is someone's trash, another’s treasure? Why is dirt disgusting inside but not outside the house? Why do people around the world deal with their garbage so differently? What does pollution and toxic waste have to tell us about social hierarchies, like race and class? In this course we address these questions by introducing first year students to how anthropologists think about garbage, waste, pollution, disorder and disgust. Together we will read books and articles, watch films and analyze popular media in order to challenge what we think we know about the perennial problem of garbage.

A mixed media assemblage consisting of welding goggles, rusted metal, a padlock, and two rusted bells hanging from a chain mounted on a wooden board with screws. The position of the objects, with goggles at the top, makes the assemblage look vaguely face-like.
George Vargas
Michigan Worker
welding goggles, metal, hanging bells, rusty bottle cap, pulleys, chains, and padlock mounted on plywood
20 7/8 in x 10 3/8 in x 2 9/16 in (53.02 cm x 26.35 cm x 6.51 cm);20 7/8 in x 10 3/8 in x 2 9/16 in (53.02 cm x 26.35 cm x 6.51 cm)
Gift of the artist
A "Norton Abrasives" wooden crate is filled with empty rusted gallon paint containers with dried paint inside. A cracked rearview mirror is attached to one side and an American flag is smushed into one side of the box. A small toy platypus sits inside one of the paint cans, although the platypus is moveable; instructions to museum state that museum staff can place platypus where they please.
Tyree Guyton
Untitled (Paint Cans)
paint cans, wooden crate, American flag, rearview mirror, and ceramic figurine
33 1/2 in x 28 1/8 in x 12 in (85.09 cm x 71.44 cm x 30.48 cm)
Gift of H. David Zucca
This small sculpture consists of a black rectangular base with spools on it, all spray painted black. A red wooden pole is sticking out of the center of the base and is holding up a thin red platform, with additional spools and a bright red ball on top. Multiple rubber belts are threaded among the spools on both the red and black elements.
Gordon Newton
Model No. 30183
wood, paint, and rubber on a wooden base
11 in x 12 in x 9 1/2 in (27.94 cm x 30.48 cm x 24.13 cm)
Gift of H. David Zucca
A top-down view of a manhole cover upon which are littered cigarette butts and rubbish.
Walker Evans
Street Trash, New York
gelatin silver print on paper
8 in x 10 in (20.32 cm x 25.4 cm);14 3/8 in x 19 3/8 in (36.51 cm x 49.21 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry H. Lunn, Jr., in Honor of the Centennial of The Michigan Daily
This small sculpture is made from crumpled paper and aluminum foil coated in resin. One end of the sculpture is blue, the other a brown-red, and the center is silver.  Pieces of paper which look like newsprint are stuck to the bottom of the sculpture. The piece is deceptively light.
John A. Chamberlain
Untitled
paper, aluminum foil, glue, and painted resin
4 5/8 in x 7 1/2 in x 5 1/8 in (11.75 cm x 19.05 cm x 13.02 cm);8 7/16 in x 10 1/4 in x 10 1/4 in (21.43 cm x 26.04 cm x 26.04 cm)
Gift of the Lannan Foundation in Honor of the Pelham Family
This mixed media collage consists of a long skein of yarn of varying colors attached at point A at the top of the print, creating a jumbled mass of yarn below and exiting at point C, also at the top of the canvas.
Buky Schwartz
Line A-C
mixed media, wool on canvas
28 1/4 in x 20 1/4 in (71.76 cm x 51.44 cm)
Gift in honor of Dr. E. Bryce and Harriet Alpern, by their children
Burhan Cahit Doğançay
Faschismus
collage, acrylic, pencil, chalk, and sand on cardboard
34 1/2 in x 27 in (87.6 cm x 68.6 cm)
Anonymous gift
An assemblage of found objects: a salvaged wood frame with wood inlay letters spelling &quot;COLORED,&quot; four portrait photographs of African American females (two photogaphs on either side of a printed poem), nine thread samples under photographs, and one hand mirror hanging on a decorative brass hook to the viewer&#39;s right of the frame. The poem reads:&nbsp;<br />
&quot;Light is Alright<br />
Yellow is Mellow<br />
Brown, Stick Around<br />
Black, Get Back<br />
(but black don&#39;t crack)&quot;<br />
<br />
The wood has a strong smell, may have been treated with molasses.<br />
<br />
&nbsp;
Betye Saar
Colored
mixed media assemblage with photographs, paper, and thread on wood
14 ½ in x 30 in x 1 ½ in (36.83 cm x 76.2 cm x 3.81 cm);10 in x 5 in x ½ in (25.4 cm x 12.7 cm x 1.27 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by Dr. James and Vivian Curtis and the W. Hawkins Ferry Fund
This photolithographic print in shades of blue and rusty red is separated into three main registers. There are three television screens at the top, each with a different image: from left to right, a woman putting on her earrings as a man looks on, an American football game, and an image of a man in a suit from the chest up with the text Dr. Walter W. Heller. Below these images, there is a register with a grid of squares within squares with two large rectangular boundries; at the far right, two larger squares are stacked vertically. The bottom register of images shows a contemporary domestic kitchen, the colors of which are transected in two places, and, in the foreground, an oversized image of a female hand holding a sandwich and a fork with salad attached.
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
Calling Radio Free America
photolithograph on paper
14 15/16 in x 10 in (38 cm x 25.4 cm)
Gift of Professor Diane M. Kirkpatrick
This print is separated into four horizontal registers of images and text, all printed in pink and black. At the top there is text that reads "COLOR AND ORGANIC / Permanent Institution.. Riding the Rolls. Reward of the Oppressed.. Whither?.. Traitors to France.. Toward Insurrection.. New Semester.. Frank Lloyd Wright Says.. Tough Times.." Below is a series of photographs of a man in a suit putting make-up on a woman with bare sholders and her hair pulled back. The second register has one large image of two men at a factory, manufacturing children's dolls. Below that, there is one cropped scene of people of various ages standing in line. The bottom row of images includes four images on the left, of a man taking photographs of a girl and a puppy in a bubble bath and three images on the right of an oven, open, closed and with someone putting steaks inside. 
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
Frank Lloyd Wright says...Tough Times
photolithograph on paper
14 15/16 in x 10 in (38 cm x 25.4 cm)
Gift of Professor Diane M. Kirkpatrick
Two orange buildings on snow-covered ground on either side of an unplowed road.&nbsp;
Object Orange
Auburndale Site, Highland Park, MI, #3
iris print on paper
22.9 x 33 1/16 in. (58.26 x 83.98 cm);20 1/4 x 32 9/16 in. (51.43 x 82.71 cm);22.9 x 33 1/16 in. (58.26 x 83.98 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by Stuart and Maxine Frankel
Hana Hamplová
Untitled
gelatin silver print on paper
23 1/16 in x 23 1/8 in (58.58 cm x 58.74 cm);32 5/16 in x 26 1/4 in (82.07 cm x 66.68 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Marion Hrebek Keys

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Anthropology — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Assemblage — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Consumerism — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Consumption — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Ecocriticism — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Ecology — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Environment — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Environmental impact — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Found art — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Garbage — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Natural resources — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
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Social criticism — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Trash — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
University class selection — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)
Visual adaptation — by seth@whirl-i-gig.com (February 13 2017 @ 11:55 am)

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February 7, 2020 2:53 p.m.

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