From the Coalition of Master’s Scholars on Material Culture (CMSMC):

On behalf of the Coalition of Master’s Scholars on Material Culture (CMSMC), the Symposium Committee is circulating a call for papers for their Spring 2021 online symposium, Tools of the Trade. How do the mechanisms we use to teach, uncover, and study material culture affect the work that we do? How do our educational backgrounds, theoretical approaches, and industry experiences influence the way we interpret objects? How do our “tools” act as a catalyst for our work of uncovering the past? Tools of the Trade focuses on what we use to delve deeper into the analysis of material culture, and how those tools are intrinsic pieces of material and immaterial culture themselves.

CMSMC welcomes papers discussing material culture grounded in historical, archaeological, art historical, and/or museum studies approaches. We are drawing from various types of works, including works in progress, book chapters, interdisciplinary approaches, and more. Proposals for the symposium will be accepted until Friday, March 18, 2022.