Ok, not exactly a book club but a reading group. Greeting Cards for the Anthropocene is exploring the meaning of greeting one another in this time of anthropogenic climate change. Among a variety of workshops, we host occasional meetings of an open reading group. Our next book club meeting we’ll be reading an article by a linguistic anthropologist, Alexandra Jaffe. Her article in the Journal of Material Culture “analyzes the social uses and meanings of greeting cards. [arguing] that cards occupy an intermediate and shifting place in between the opposing social categories of ‘gift’ vs. ‘commodity’.” (Jaffe 1999).
12:30 – 1:30pm on Thursday, October 31st
*Price of admission is reading the article and coming, prepared to talk through it. Lunch will be provided for those who RSVP in advance (we’ll probably order from Taco Deli, so send dietary preferences).
Jaffe, Alexandra. 1999. “Packaged Sentiments: The Social Meanings of Greeting Cards.” Journal of Material Culture 4 (2): 115–141. Download: jaffe1999
