Refrangible

From a practice cottage to a home management house, UW-Madison has a long history of live-in learning experiences. In this episode of Refrangible, we examine the university’s history of domestic education, and the lessons 21st century educators can pull from those experiments. Thanks to our guests for this episode (in order of appearance): Barbara Tensfeldt, retired and professional volunteer; and Dr. Elizabeth Hooper-Lane, senior lecturer of art history at UW-Madison and an academic staff member at UW-Oshkosh.

In this episode, we examine what defines a “home” — and what happens when it’s taken away.

In episode one of this season, we touched briefly on the idea of appropriating – or perhaps, more accurately, commodifying – culture. Who really gets to reap the rewards, financial and otherwise, of a specific culture’s iconography, spirituality and history? In this episode, we’re reexamining the commodification of culture: and what happens when appreciation turns into appropriation.

How do you choose what to wear each day? Is it a matter of practicality, social expectations, or cultural identity? Or have you just been putting off doing the laundry, and this just happens to be your last clean shirt? In episode one of season two of Refrangible, a podcast from the Center for Design and Material Culture, we’re exploring the intersection of clothing, culture and politics. Or, put more simply: Who wears what, and why?

Textile creation has long been an art of necessity, as makers mended and created clothing and often used remnants of fabric to make quilts. But gradually, the creation of these textiles has grown from necessity to high art. This month on Refrangible, the object at the center of our discussion is the sewing machine.

During World War II, through tight control of the media, economy and social messaging -- the U.S. Government was able to instill in the American people a sense of collectivism. Simply put, we were all in it together, and if one of us failed, then we all failed. But, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, that sense of collective responsibility has seemed to vanish. Even while the coronavirus death count climbed, public health guidance from the federal government was viewed with doubt and skepticism by a large swath of the American public. So...what happened? Was there ever really a true sense of national collective responsibility or was it just an artificial concept, enforced by the federal government during World War II to ensure obedience? Or, has our sense of community as a nation really just degraded in the ensuing eighty years? In this episode, we examine a series of meal planning pamphlets published as part of the U.S. Government’s National Wartime Nutrition Program. The pamphlets were distributed during World War II, with the intent to help housewives make the most of their allotted rations. But, in addition to recipes, these pamphlets can also provide us a glimpse into how Americans viewed collective responsibility during times of crisis.