Page 183 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

Bodies and Things 167

things are constitutes a culinary lifestyle that is laden with cultural meaning.

Cuisines are often specific to particular ethnic or geographic cultures – soul

food or Italian pizza, for example. Some foods are significant of a culture
of educated healthy eating or of a high level of awareness of the varied
cultures of the world, while some reflect economic status more negatively

– cheap fast food that is easy to come by but dangerous to one ’ s health.
The study of material culture in Cultural Studies is concerned with the
meaning of objects in our lives. Some objects are closely connected to our
bodily lives and to our internal emotional lives. For example, the sarong is
a colorful garment worn by both men and women in Indonesia that has
numerous functions. It is clothing; it communicates social messages; it
operates emotionally; it is a token of exchange in rituals such as marriage;
it swaddles children and covers corpses. The colors and designs can have
religious meaning, but the sarong textiles themselves can also act as “ super
skins ” in that they are extensions of bodily and emotional life. Someone in
distress will cover his or her head with a sarong to prevent intrusive com-
munication and to signal a desire to left alone. Sarongs also serve as tokens
of social exchange. A particular kind of sarong given as a marriage gift will
imply the need for one kind of reciprocal gift over another. Particular
sarong designs belong to particular villages, but they can be given away in
marriage, as when a bride brings designs with her and weaves them into
the life and sarong styles of her new family home. Sarongs are adjusted and
worn differently in different social situations. They are worn to the ankles
for formal events, and to the knees for work or informal interactions. The
way a sarong is worn affects the bodily life of the wearers; a long woman ’ s
sarong obliges her to walk in clipped short steps, while a man ’ s looser
sarong allows him to take longer strides (much as tight women ’ s skirts
force women to walk differently from men). Sarongs are also work gar-
ments in that they are used to absorb the liquids of everyday life, everything
from menstrual blood to a child ’ s urine. They serve as extensions of the
body. A person ’ s sarong is so associated with that person that it accompa-
nies him or her to the grave and is used to wrap the corpse.
Something as simple light is also an important material thing in our lives
that has cultural meaning. Light is associated with clarity, truthfulness,
trustworthiness, and good knowledge, while darkness or the lack of light
often has the cultural meaning of evil or danger. Light alters our sense of
space and has a psychological effect on us. It penetrates our being in both
positive and negative ways. Light makes spaces seem larger, and its pres-
ence can be reassuring. But it can also be used to the point of excess and