Object Lives and Global Histories in Northern North America: Material Culture in Motion, c. 1780–1980

Abstract

The idea of motion and movement— across time, space, geo-political borders and borderlands, Indigenous and imperial networks, and knowledge systems—is at the center of this important, timely volume. Analyzing material culture as integral to, and expressive of, the dynamics of cross-cultural exchange and relations means that each object presented in its multiple case studies may be understood as verb rather than only as noun. Through close, careful looking and listening, a collaborative group of scholars and knowledge-holders, including the individuals contributing to this volume, began working together with northern North American museum collections in 2015. The goal of their four-year, Edmonton-based “Object Lives” project was to develop and practice a methodology for material and decolonial analysis, where attention to the object and its materiality also encompasses regional, Indigenous, settler, and broad global processes of historical change and exchange. Objects defined by their making, reworking, interacting, circulating, functioning, and acting therefore are considered inseparable from the complex cross-cultural relationships and diverse community histories they manifest. The case studies presented here by twelve contributors identify textiles and fashion, among other mediums, as active agents of culture change. They are offered to readers “as a tool for future endeavours” (49) whereby more scholarship might be guided by these deeply researched examples of bringing objects, people, and global histories together. Throughout, the authors’ aim is clear: