MarkASwanson
Stoneware from the Philippines
These are two bowls found in the Philippines and brought to the anthropology museum here on campus. They are beautifully crafted hand-made stoneware bowls most likely used for eating, or possibly decoration. They have a well-maintained glaze and seem to be of a line of similar mass produced bowls. They are akin to a collection of stoneware shown to my discussion section during a behind-the-scenes tour of the anthropology museum located on central campus. Although the items shown to us were found in the Philippines, they were determined to have been made in China. This immediately reminded me about the discussions we've been having concerning the concept of 'home' and 'Asian'. Even thought objects like these were made in China, they were very commonly found in places such as the Philippines, or otherwise non-Chinese places. I wonder if the people who owned these objects considered them to be Chinese or to be of their own culture? Thinking of these past peoples brings me to thinking about my own ideas of origin, and I find a similar mystery.
I look around at the items in my household, which I generally consider to be normal American household items. However I find that the television is produced by a company with a Japanese name, 'Toshiba'. I also find that many of my clothes were made in foreign countries, as well as our dishes, my keyboard and the lamp that lights my room. Even so, all of things items convey a distinct feeling of 'home', a home which lies within the geographical confines and social ideals of an American way of life. I don't look around me and think that I am living among and using foreign objects. It doesn't matter to me that they were made somewhere else. What is important is the fact that I have used these kinds of items since before I can remember. They are part of my life, that life which is not Asian or foreign, but my own. But these feelings are not extended to all the objects I posses. I look around me and see that I consider many of the objects in my room to be of foreign nature. For example, the Sumi-e supplies, used to create traditional Japanese art, or the two tea cups out of which I drink hot chocolate almost every other day. These objects are indeed part of my life, I make a Sumi-e painting more often than I watch television, and my two tea cups are the two most washed dishes by my hands. Even so, I retain the thought that they are of some foreign origin. Why is this?
I can think of no good answer, but I stretch to come up with an explanation. Perhaps our ideas of what is foreign and what is local come not from our understanding of the origins of an object, but rather from the objects prevalence in surrounding society and frequency in our up bringing. What I consider at first glance to be an object of foreign origin seems to have nothing to do with the object's actual geographical origins, but rather how prevalent this object is in the homes of my peers. If most everyone around me uses an object in their daily life, it becomes part of my surrounding culture, and therefore is of local origin in my mind. Or if the object is not found very often in the home of my peers, it only matters whether or not I remember the first time that this type of object was introduced into my home. If I cannot remember, it seems to me that I consider it to originate in my own culture, as I have never known any difference.
Perhaps the people of the Philippines held a similar notion of local and foreign. I would imagine that, were the types of stoneware found in the Philippines used in most homes of the time, the people in the area would have considered these objects to be of Philippine origin, rather than foreign. This would especially be the case if these objects were possessed over several generations, as those that grew up never remembering the purchase of such objects would find the stoneware to be an integral part of their up bringing, and therefore their life as a whole.
Stoneware from the Philippines
These are two bowls found in the Philippines and brought to the anthropology museum here on campus. They are beautifully crafted hand-made stoneware bowls most likely used for eating, or possibly decoration. They have a well-maintained glaze and seem to be of a line of similar mass produced bowls. They are akin to a collection of stoneware shown to my discussion section during a behind-the-scenes tour of the anthropology museum located on central campus. Although the items shown to us were found in the Philippines, they were determined to have been made in China. This immediately reminded me about the discussions we've been having concerning the concept of 'home' and 'Asian'. Even thought objects like these were made in China, they were very commonly found in places such as the Philippines, or otherwise non-Chinese places. I wonder if the people who owned these objects considered them to be Chinese or to be of their own culture? Thinking of these past peoples brings me to thinking about my own ideas of origin, and I find a similar mystery.
I look around at the items in my household, which I generally consider to be normal American household items. However I find that the television is produced by a company with a Japanese name, 'Toshiba'. I also find that many of my clothes were made in foreign countries, as well as our dishes, my keyboard and the lamp that lights my room. Even so, all of things items convey a distinct feeling of 'home', a home which lies within the geographical confines and social ideals of an American way of life. I don't look around me and think that I am living among and using foreign objects. It doesn't matter to me that they were made somewhere else. What is important is the fact that I have used these kinds of items since before I can remember. They are part of my life, that life which is not Asian or foreign, but my own. But these feelings are not extended to all the objects I posses. I look around me and see that I consider many of the objects in my room to be of foreign nature. For example, the Sumi-e supplies, used to create traditional Japanese art, or the two tea cups out of which I drink hot chocolate almost every other day. These objects are indeed part of my life, I make a Sumi-e painting more often than I watch television, and my two tea cups are the two most washed dishes by my hands. Even so, I retain the thought that they are of some foreign origin. Why is this?
I can think of no good answer, but I stretch to come up with an explanation. Perhaps our ideas of what is foreign and what is local come not from our understanding of the origins of an object, but rather from the objects prevalence in surrounding society and frequency in our up bringing. What I consider at first glance to be an object of foreign origin seems to have nothing to do with the object's actual geographical origins, but rather how prevalent this object is in the homes of my peers. If most everyone around me uses an object in their daily life, it becomes part of my surrounding culture, and therefore is of local origin in my mind. Or if the object is not found very often in the home of my peers, it only matters whether or not I remember the first time that this type of object was introduced into my home. If I cannot remember, it seems to me that I consider it to originate in my own culture, as I have never known any difference.
Perhaps the people of the Philippines held a similar notion of local and foreign. I would imagine that, were the types of stoneware found in the Philippines used in most homes of the time, the people in the area would have considered these objects to be of Philippine origin, rather than foreign. This would especially be the case if these objects were possessed over several generations, as those that grew up never remembering the purchase of such objects would find the stoneware to be an integral part of their up bringing, and therefore their life as a whole.