HIST 4920A: Seminar in Public History – “From Walkmans to West Edmonton Mall: Material Culture in 1980s Canada”
Fall 2024-Winter 2025
Instructor: Professor James Opp
Overview: This seminar explores the material culture and culture of consumerism in 1980s Canada, from malls and marketing to forms of technology and media that became fundamental components for the formation of social identities. We will think about what it means to study media, technology, and culture in what was arguably the last analog decade. We will discuss bad fashion, good music, and consider how nostalgia has shaped our views of the decade that shaped Generation X.
This is a full-year course divided roughly into two parts. In the fall term, the focus will be on seminar readings, including theories and practices of material culture. We will also familiarise ourselves with Canada in the 1980s: from Expo 86 to the Gretzky trade to the Toronto Bathhouse Raids to debates over CanCon regulations. You will have the opportunity to explore and present familiar aspects of material culture through interviews and research on how consumer objects were marketed.
In the winter term, the focus will shift to a partnership with the Ingenium Canada Science and Technology Museum. We will be making at least 3 site visits during class time in order to access their collections for hands on research. Individually, in small groups, and as a large group, we will be engaged in some form of audio/visual project to showcase Ingenium’s collections which will be presented to museum partners at the end of the course. This project will involve interviews and marketing research, to see how everyday technologies of the 80s were sold to the consumers, and to explore how they were actually used in domestic settings.
As a seminar in Public History, our overall objective is to consider how we can tell stories about past material objects and past technologies, even if these are ‘recent’ pasts. How can we avoid reactive forms of nostalgia and use objects to reflect on wider social practices? How can we comprehend the wider significance of consumer items between the marketing assumptions and the stories of their use?
Class Format: This is an in-person, student-led seminar in a three-hour block. Some weeks, especially in the winter term, will be set aside to allow for on site visits at Ingenium.
Social Media: An important element of this class will be an experimentation with different forms of social media that will document the processes of discovery. Students will be asked to take part in posting content that offers insight into what they are working on and what that research process looks like. This content may be re-posted by Carleton University or Ingenium via their social media accounts, but you will have control over how much of yourself and/or your own personal information you wish to reveal.
Text: No textbook is required but you may be required to watch 80s media content of questionable taste.
Questions? Please email me at: james.opp@carleton.ca
Much More 80s: See some recent media appearances about this course:
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-92-all-in-a-day/clip/16047669-studying-1980s-credit.