Social Lives of Places and Things

27 March 2008, Anth 3520

Welcome back!

 

 

Plan for class

Admin

Final discussion

Exam hand out

Evaluations

 

 

Admin

- work to be returned

- a few essays not marked yet, sorry (please come next Tues 3:30-4:30 to pick up, or Thurs aft -- I'll be in my office)

- after next week, your work to be picked up will be in the Anth Dept (but you don't get the final back)

- marks will be posted on this website, by student number, by middle of next week -- poster mark, participation mark, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Reading for This Week was this:

 

These final readings are variegated explorations of the archaeology of us. For our final class, please write a 400 word reflection on these readings (worth 2%), and come ready to talk.

The Long Now and The Millennium Clock: www.longnow.org/views/essays/articles/BrianEnoLongNow.php,  www.longnow.org/about/

www.longnow.org/projects/clock/ , www.longnow.org/press/articles/Michael_Chabon_-_The_Omega_Glory.pdf  

Ghost Towns - just explore:  www.ghosttownpix.com/  , www.ontarioghosttowns.com/   COMPARE: www.ghosttownmuseum.com/

Chernobyl Diary: First, for background, skim this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster   Then, explore  www.angelfire.com/extreme4/kiddofspeed/cherlinks.html

DeMille's Lost City: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4494713

 

 

The Millennium Clock:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DeMille's Lost City:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chernobyl Diary

 

 

Ghost Towns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More thoughts:

The World Without Us - Alan Weisman - what if all humans disappeared tomorrow? The book describes what would happen to all that we've built, to all that we'd leave behind.

Also: "On Tuesday, April 1st at 8 p.m., Aftermath: The world  
without humans will be showing on History Television. It is a two  
hour special about what would happen if  every single person on Earth  
simply disappeared. Not dead, just gone. Poof! How do our buildings,  
pets, bridges, and monuments last without us?"   (Written and produced by a former York student -- it got the Nat Geo channel's highest ratings in a year when it aired last month in the US.)

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/aftermath/

 

 

 

 

Why think about abandoned places? Why think about places, or the world itself, without us?

 

 

All this just helps us to think about the social lives of places and things -- what they do and say. Of course, they are most alive when in interaction with living people who make and use them... but even on their own, they still have something to say... like ghosts, in a way.  And considering our world after we're gone gives us a new window on our own society... helps us to do archaeology and anthropology at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, we haven't disappeared. In this Long Now of ours, others will follow us and learn about us, about our thoughts and our society, from the places and things we leave behind...

just as we learn from all others before us.