Thursday, September 29, 2011

Exciting New Website/Blog: War and the Visceral Imagination

How does Material Culture shape our sense of War?


This is just one of many questions that you are invited to explore on this blog and in Baltimore during the annual meeting of the American Studies Association (ASA) this October. 

The blog and ASA panel is called “War and the Visceral Imagination” because it is interested in how embodied experiences of the material shape wartime notions of citizenship, obligation, and the national imaginary.

The broader aim is to inspire conversation about the multi-sensory nature of human encounters with the material world. For example:
  • How do sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste serve as means to transmit cultural values?
  • What questions become possible when traditional Western classifications of the senses are challenged?
  • Which scholars have influenced your work with material culture?
  • What challenges do scholars of the past face in their study of embodied material experience? What approaches can help overcome these obstacles?
  • How does your own work relate to the issues raised here?  
The blog hopes to expand the conversation to include material culture scholars—particularly representatives of museums and archives—who are not able to attend the conference. All are welcome to pose questions, share ideas, and contribute to the discussion.

So, please, join in the conversation and sign up for the RSS feed. And, if you are on Twitter, follow @cjceglio and look for the #warvi hashtag.

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