Books of the Week: material culture x three

 This year my reading has slowed down.  I've checked out stacks of books, some of which I read and many that I don't.  I have many unread books in the book case.  I'm going to keep trying to keep BOTW weekly.

This season I've enjoyed three books about material culture.

The Wikipedia definition:   Material culture is most commonly used in archaeological and anthropological studies, to define material or artifacts as they are understood in relation to specific cultural and historic contexts, communities, and belief systems. Material culture can be described as any object that humans use to survive, define social relationships, represent facets of identity, or benefit peoples' state of mind, social, or economic standing.

Warning: textile/fiber metaphors are inevitable! I love textile history so it was a given that I would be totally enthralled (ensnared) by Clare Hunter's wonderful account. She weaves all the strands of eras into a shimmering panorama -- pre-Egyptian, the Bayeux Tapestry, Mary Stuart (she's written an entire book on the Queen of Scots' embroidery), and plain and fancy needlework in the ensuing centuries.

Hunter understands the psychological value of embroidery. She writes, "We think of embroidery as a confined art...Hands, eyes, and a lap are all that are required. But that constricted environment can be expansive, a creative portal to other worlds, a way of staying connected, sewing not only as mental and physical comfort, but also a channel for knowledge, imagination, and passion." (48)

The chapter titles describe every aspect: Unknown (the anonymous Bayeux stitchers), Power, Frailty, Captivity, Identity, Connection, Protect, Journey, Protest, Loss, Community, Place, Value, Art, Work, Voice. I marked so many passages of interesting stories that illustrate all of Hunter's points!

"Sewing is a visual language. It has a voice. It has been used by people to communicate something of themselves--their history, beliefs, prayers, and protests. For some, it is the only means to tell of what maters to them: those who are imprisoned or censored, those who do not know how or are not allowed to write of their lives...Sewing is a graphic way to add information and meanings. But it is not a monologue....It connects the maker to the viewer across time, cultures, generations, and geographies....to provide a contiuum of traditions, values, and perceptions." (176)

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(Lara Maiklem was interviewed for this segment on the PBS NewsHour.   I promptly checked out her book and "friended" her Facebook page.)

 Maiklem's book is both memoir and about the material culture she has been collecting and recording in the years that she has been mudlarking.

Mudlarking is akin to beachcombing but along riverbanks instead of beaches and very specifically along the River Thames. Many years ago it was a way to make a living. Nowadays it is practiced casually by some but very seriously by others. Maiklem is in the latter category.

The book is a journey along the tidal Thames from Teddington to Southend-on-Sea. Maiklem writes about the things she (and others) find at low tide--pottery, clay pipes, coins, buttons, bottles, bones. She places the objects in historical context: tiles from Roman heating systems, silver aglets (the tips of laces), large and small beads, Mesolithic flints, coinage.

The river has changed over the centuries. The banks have been shored up, bridges and docks have come and gone. Sewage was dumped in it for generations (good for artifacts, not good for fish or for public health). It is much cleaner now but climate change brings increased flood risk and other landscape-altering events.

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Lisa Woollett combines memoir, cultural history, and a call to action. She grew up east of London near the Thames with family stories about her great-grandfather and grandfather who made a living from London's trash back, She credits that inheritance with her enjoyment of mudlarking along the river and beachcombing along the shore in Cornwall where she now lives.

Her narrative takes us along for the discoveries as the Thames winds through London. She describes the artifacts she finds and tells their places in history -- clay pipes, buttons, pottery, and more. She also describes how the ubiquity of disposable products has changed the landscape (trash overflowing landfills into the water) and the economy (recycling is viable for fewer things and in fewer places than we think). The last chapter is devoted to the problem of plastic pollution.

I read Lara Maiklem's Mudlark prior to Rag and Bone. Both were published in 2019 though Woollett's came later (she cites Maiklem in the bibliography). Comparisons are inevitable. I enjoyed them both. Maiklem dwells more on the historical context of the objects she finds. Woollett talks more about her family's livelihood and how our consumerism is affecting the planet. I found that both books are interesting and thought-provoking.

P.S. Interesting fact: p. 150. The Phoebus Cartel was an agreement by light-bulb makers in the 1920s to deliberately make bulbs more fragile so they would break more easily and thus force consumers to buy more.