Participation Type
Paper
Session Title
Session 3.02 Social Life
Presentation #1 Title
Power in Things: Creativity and Mass Consumption at Kentucky Company Coal Towns
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Short summary: This paper proposes a philosophical reconfiguration of the role of mass produced goods during the Appalachian Industrial Age to argue that consumers exercised considerable creativity and agency through their daily use of seemingly innocuous material things. Archaeological examples from company-owned Kentucky coal mining towns will be used to highlight diverse consumer strategies that interlocked with national trends and the global economy, as well as local adaptations and resistances that incorporated preindustrial household and community strategies. Full Abstract: Early 20th century reformers and scholars lamented the ‘corruption’ of Appalachian “folk culture” at the hands of industrialization (e.g. the Arts and Crafts movement), particularly the replacement of ‘traditional’ material goods and practices with modern mass-produced things and the trappings of mass consumption. Contradictorily, the media continued to perpetuate the 19th century myth that Appalachians suffered from market isolation and a misplaced sense of traditionalism, i.e. a “backwardness” that kept Appalachia out of synch with the rest of America, which was reflected mentally, morally, and particularly materially. These condemnations painted a portrait of people in material limbo, robbed of traditional material practices without full or correct engagement in the modern cult of mass consumption. Archaeological evidence from turn of the century coal communities challenges these assertions. Material remains suggest residents were fully engaged with the modern material economy, and pursued national trends and tastes via increased market access to mass-produced goods. Rather than echoing reformer sentiment about the ‘lost’ material purity of agrarian Appalachia, however, this paper reconceptualizes mass consumption in a different philosophical light. Sensu Miller (1987), it argues the act of mass consumption is imbued with subtlety and power: creativity and agency are exercised through the acquisition, use, and disposal of ordinary mass-produced goods. The adoption of these goods into everyday life entailed dynamic, fluid, and diverse strategies on the part of coal town residents. Furthermore, consumption strategies also blended the ‘old’ with the new’: traditional practices were not lost or subsumed by mass consumption, but were practiced in creative combination. Residents employed a clever blend of household and community strategies to navigate their daily needs and forge their identities in a dynamic industrial world. These processes will be explored archaeologically via examples from eastern Kentucky coal mining company towns. Miller, Daniel 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Basil Blackwell, New York.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Zada Komara is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on historical archaeology at company coal mining towns, and she works as a UK’s Appalachian Center staff member on their Coal Camp Documentary project.
Power in Things: Creativity and Mass Consumption at Kentucky Company Coal Towns
Short summary: This paper proposes a philosophical reconfiguration of the role of mass produced goods during the Appalachian Industrial Age to argue that consumers exercised considerable creativity and agency through their daily use of seemingly innocuous material things. Archaeological examples from company-owned Kentucky coal mining towns will be used to highlight diverse consumer strategies that interlocked with national trends and the global economy, as well as local adaptations and resistances that incorporated preindustrial household and community strategies. Full Abstract: Early 20th century reformers and scholars lamented the ‘corruption’ of Appalachian “folk culture” at the hands of industrialization (e.g. the Arts and Crafts movement), particularly the replacement of ‘traditional’ material goods and practices with modern mass-produced things and the trappings of mass consumption. Contradictorily, the media continued to perpetuate the 19th century myth that Appalachians suffered from market isolation and a misplaced sense of traditionalism, i.e. a “backwardness” that kept Appalachia out of synch with the rest of America, which was reflected mentally, morally, and particularly materially. These condemnations painted a portrait of people in material limbo, robbed of traditional material practices without full or correct engagement in the modern cult of mass consumption. Archaeological evidence from turn of the century coal communities challenges these assertions. Material remains suggest residents were fully engaged with the modern material economy, and pursued national trends and tastes via increased market access to mass-produced goods. Rather than echoing reformer sentiment about the ‘lost’ material purity of agrarian Appalachia, however, this paper reconceptualizes mass consumption in a different philosophical light. Sensu Miller (1987), it argues the act of mass consumption is imbued with subtlety and power: creativity and agency are exercised through the acquisition, use, and disposal of ordinary mass-produced goods. The adoption of these goods into everyday life entailed dynamic, fluid, and diverse strategies on the part of coal town residents. Furthermore, consumption strategies also blended the ‘old’ with the new’: traditional practices were not lost or subsumed by mass consumption, but were practiced in creative combination. Residents employed a clever blend of household and community strategies to navigate their daily needs and forge their identities in a dynamic industrial world. These processes will be explored archaeologically via examples from eastern Kentucky coal mining company towns. Miller, Daniel 1987 Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Basil Blackwell, New York.
