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These Tutorials use images, sound files and narrative to deepen understanding of the featured disciplines through close readings of artifacts.
| Tutorial 1: Visual Arts |
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Paintings, sculpture, and other works of visual art express ideals in
their own language.
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| Tutorial 2: Political History |
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Speeches, protest posters, and cartoons capture the political views of
various groups.
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| Tutorial 3: Social History |
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The discipline of social history focuses on the lives of ordinary people.
Diaries, photos, music, and clothing are all clues to social history and
the lives of ordinary people.
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| Tutorial 4: Oral History |
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Folk songs, interviews, and other oral histories can provide alternative
views of a text's cultural setting or be studied as artifacts that help
explain other literary works.
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| Tutorial 5: Domestic Architecture |
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Furniture placement and interior design are two of many aspects of
domestic architecture which can relay information about social attitudes
and norms of behavior.
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| Tutorial 6: Cultural Geography |
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The study of cultural geography focuses on how we shape our surrounding
space, and how natural and man-made landscapes affect our perspectives.
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| Tutorial 7: Ritual Artifacts |
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From Victorian calling cards to Puritan gravestones, ritual artifacts
reveal how humans create and define order in their lives through both
sacred and secular ritual objects.
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| Tutorial 8: Ceremonial Artifacts |
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Native American sand paintings, priestly vestments and wedding huppahs are
all objects used in religious ceremonies embodying the spiritual beliefs of the cultures they represent.
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When approaching an artifact, it is useful to think of the process for teaching close reading of literature—developing not only an understanding of what a text says (the literal plot of "what happened") but also appreciating the importance of how a text depicts what happened (the use of rhyme scheme, diction, character development, etc.).
The analysis of artifacts involves a similar process of close reading, with attention to the details of how things are represented. The way a figure is posed in a portrait (wearing a particular style of clothing, pictured with specific household objects, etc.) may reveal cultural values shared by the painter and the subject. For example, the use of rhythm and repetition in a song may indicate what information or beliefs are being emphasized, particularly if the original singers and audience for the song came from a culture that privileged the oral transmission of information.
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 Visual Arts
Political History
Social History
Oral Histories
Domestic Architecture
Cultural Geography
Ritual Artifacts
Ceremonial Artifacts
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