This free course, An introduction to material culture, introduces the study of material culture. It asks why we should study things and outlines some basic approaches to studying objects.
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
understand what material culture is
understand the origin of material culture as an area of study in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century
understand the concepts of 'object biography' and the 'life cycles' of things.
For an introductory level course this was surprisingly thoughtful. The subjects discussed reminded me a lot of the areas I covered in my Social Sciences degree which I took with the OU many years ago. Recommended.