Art, Craft, Science
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this anthropology course on how people learn and evaluate craft techniques across traditional and contemporary practice. It draws on social science theories of design, embodiment, apprenticeship, skill, labor, expertise, and tacit knowledge to examine what separates art, craft, and science, and how craft becomes market goods, collectible art, or tourist product. Case studies include Shaker furniture, glassblowing, quilting, cheesemaking, textiles, industrial design, home and professional cooking, factory and laboratory work, and CAD/CAM systems. Materials include course readings, lecture notes, and assignments as published by MIT OpenCourseWare, with demonstrations, optional field trips, and hands-on craft projects noted as possible components of the class. No certificate is offered, as with other MIT OCW materials; the course is free to study through MIT's OpenCourseWare site under a Creative Commons license.