For your final project in this course, I would like you to develop your own interests in material culture and Object Studies as we have been exploring it over the course of the term. You should plan on producing a significant piece of writing (about 8-10 pages, double-spaced) or an equivalent creative product to submit during our final class meeting on December 13th. 

The goal of the assignment is to reflect on and explore the significance of objects and material culture in our global traditions. As in our course, questions that your project might touch upon include: What are the historical narratives that our objects are a part of, and how does your knowledge of this object help us better understand (or maybe even change your thinking) about that historical narrative? What are the ways that objects are implicated in our thinking and creative work?

Within these broad guidelines, you have several options for how to proceed with your work:

1. Revise/Expand on Work You Did in a Short Assignment. You might choose to expand on one of your earlier blog posts, or use one of these post assignments as inspiration for studying a new object. You could, for instance, expand on your consumer object study, or write further on one of your personal object stories. You might go into more detail about an object or a collection you studied for your team teaching work, or write a story involving one or more of the objects you worked on for our Huguenot Street Project. These are just some examples, and you should feel free to develop your own interests and ideas. For instance, if you are a psychology major, you may be interested in some of the work we have done this semester on hoarding; students with an interest in philosophy might want to delve further into theoretical approaches to objects (and so on). 
2. Choose a Topic or Project from our Object Studies Readings. In Object Studies there are several project ideas that we did not use or only touched briefly upon in our class discussions. If you are interested in pursuing one of these projects you can do so for your final project.
3. Write a Thesis Proposal. If something we have worked on in this class might interest you as a longer/larger project for your thesis, you may use this final project as a way to begin work (or explore the possibility of such a project). This won’t actually be your thesis proposal, but an exercise to help you possibly develop one later on. The components of this project would be a 2-3 overview, a 5-6 page sample of the kind of work you envision for the project, and a working bibliography.
4. Create Something This project can take the form of a creative piece. You might also choose to work in another medium, such as video or audio storytelling (but if you choose this option please keep in mind the limited amount of time you have to produce such work and begin as soon as you can). You will also be responsible, if you choose this option, for writing an artist’s statement of about 2-3 pages that explains your inspiration, technique, and reflects on what you learned about material culture through the process of your work.

In addition to the final Dec. 13 deadline, you should plan on bringing a preliminary proposal to Prof. Mulready (which you will also workshop in class the week of Dec. 2nd).

The proposal should explain which of the above paths you are taking, the methodology and form you are using to study the object, and what you anticipate the final product to be (a paper, website, video recording, etc.). What resources are you using to tell the object’s story (a bibliography isn’t necessary, but you should mention some key sources)? What historical narratives are you interested in exploring through your study of this object?