Lecture by Iris Carter Ford
Hollins University 7916 Williamson Road , Roanoke, Virginia 24019
<em>Material Culture at Home, An Anthropology of Domestic Space and Stuff</em>. In conjunction with <em>Sue Johnson: American Dreamscape</em>, Ford presents a lecture addressing issues of space, objects, and the social dramas of home that play a profound role in shaping human experience. Domestic space may seem trivial in the gendered public/private scheme of things. Who cares about decorating? How do our houses and the stuff we cram into them influence the values of family life and the behaviors of family members; inform our national, class, gendered, and ethnic identities; and serve as a barometer of change—sometimes supporting and sometimes challenging the status quo? Are we what we live in? Ford is a professor of anthropology at St. Mary’s College of Maryland at Historic St. Mary's City. She earned undergraduate degrees at Howard University and her Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from The American University. Ford's research interests include popular culture and consumption and she is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to explore materialism in human life. Reception to follow.