Disciplinary Literacy Project

Institution Name

Instructor Name

Course Name

Student Name

Disciplinary Literacy Project

Artifacts refer to human creations that provide information related to the culture of the creator and the respective users. Habitually, the objects of reference in regard to written artifacts are archeological in scope, but modern creations have gained some significant recognition as cultural artifacts. Essentially, written artifacts are used to provide knowledge and idea on technological process or progress, economic changes, social makeup, and hosts to other subjects. In this paper, an analysis of written artifacts will be done. This would be done based on conducted investigations on specific artifacts, museum exhibitions, and the spread of cultural artifacts in general. The financial consideration of the written artifacts is done in which, aspects like the financial benefits, the budgeting case, and the associated costs are considered in the analysis. The main initiative here is to make an idea concerning the values of the written artifacts including the way and the reasons why such artifacts were written in the first place. The paper includes aspects like traditions, attitudes, beliefs, attitudes, rhetorical forms, and social roles among other factors surrounding the written artifacts.

Early American Cookbooks

According to Tobias (pg.3) many American letters and other published materials have been critically examined for cultural purposes. The main idea behind the critical examination of the written artifacts in this case is to establish the boundaries as well as the genealogy of the United States cultural field. Tobias goes on to point out that the American publishing historiography has largely ignored some genres of books, which at one time had a substantial influence on the America starting from the 18th century. Most of the written artifacts under this field were meant to generate some predetermined influence on the American society. The cookbooks have nevertheless received little concern as written and serious artifacts in terms cultural production (Tobias, pg.3). This little concern could be initiated by the perceived financial benefits that could be derived from the sale of such artifacts. Conversely, the cookbooks contain critical information that could be useful just like in the case of any other form of cultural artifacts. The written artifact contains useful recipes, hidden clues as well as cultural assumptions about social-cultural aspects like class, race, ethnicity, and gender. This written artifact claim that human beings need to eat in order to exist. Neglecting cookbooks as written artifacts has been happening for a long time in history (Tobius). The publishing of such artifacts ultimately decreased due to the loss of interest among the targeted individuals. The cost of producing and marketing the cookbooks was thus far much higher than the profits derived from the sale of the books.

The Kelsey Museum Newsletter

This newsletter is a written artifact that talks about the archaeology of people in Egypt and specifically at Abydos. The artifact entails what individuals’ social histories contribute to the work of writing cultural history of the ancient Egypt. The goal of the written artifact is to provide the ancient country’s indigenous details. Autobiographies of ancient leaders like the Weni the Elder is very important in the history of Egypt (The Kelsey Museum of Achaeology). Weni the Elder identified himself mainly as a prominent player during his time. All physical evidence pertaining his archaeological setting and other cultural artifacts were used to develop a written artifact about the great player during the ancient times. These artifacts were also based on his idealized narrative about his funerary inscription. This was essentially a process that had been started during the excavation season of 1999.

The process in this case gives adequate room in completing the individual within a relatively larger physical landscape. The process was also meant to relate Weni’s written material assemblage to global themes. Such global themes include politics, the society, magic, as well as personal identity construction (The Kelsey Museum of Achaeology). The interest generated among audience towards these artifacts reflects its potential in revenue generation. While there is a high cost of researching on the physical artifacts used in forming the written artifact regarding to Weni, the returns are definitely good. In this regard, the earliest excavations depicting the written artifacts about Weni are dated back in 19995. Since the year 1995, Abydos Middle Cemetery project was initiated with the aim of finding the meaningful information that could provide adequate support to the artifact. The project was initiated under a predetermined budget with most of the activities requiring heavy investment plans. The project here was directed under the Kelsey Museum aegis as well as the Pennsylvania-Yale-New York University Expedition. Through the project, the written artifact focuses on Abydos’ mysterious part. This is the part from which the inscription of Weni has been known to originate. The Focused part of Abydos is considered mysterious because the area had never been excavated ever before since the year 1870. It was then when the first Egyptian antiquities organization’s director decided to flung many workmen across the entire landscape of Abydos (The Kelsey Museum of Achaeology). The financial cost of this project was typically massive but the right budget had to be structured for the activity to go through. The written artifact about the autobiography of Weni was acquired as a result of the financial planning to manage the entire project.

Interview with Korean Monk

This interview can be considered a written artifact itself, reflecting mainly the efforts of retrieving cultural artifacts from Japan. The interview was done at a cost since the moment had to be budgeted for. The interviewee in this case was Hye Moon from the Bongseon Temple. This monk is said to be the leader of the committee responsible for returning the Korean Cultural Property. He founded the committee in 2006. Through some of his efforts and support from his committee, Moon managed to return two of the most important cultural properties. His role is very important to the government. The skills and experience in writing, which contributed to the artifacts are attributed to the Uigwe Books Repatriation Committee (Korean JoongAng). The recognition given to him by the government saw his being awarded with the Order of Civic Merit, a Magnolia Medal. The cost of retrieving the artifacts from Japan is not free, but a next target has been structured despite the heavy budget allocated for every project. Now, Ogura Collection is claimed to be his next target according to the interview. Each item recovered is recorded accordingly with enough description that could depict the role and importance of every piece recovered. The objects to be recovered in the next target are emperor’s helmet and the armor. In the written description, both the helmet and the armor symbolize the commanding power that the owner had as the commander-in-chief of the national force. These elements also depict the sovereignty of a country. These kinds of relics however hardly remain in Korea. The relics bear a significant importance as a symbol as well as a cultural property. Typically, there are financial gains related to the gains given the revenue generated from the artifacts with respect to the industry in which they are situated (Korean JoongAng). Financially and security wise, it is realistically difficult to get the entire collection back. The budget allocation for the project would imply that other important projects are forgone in order to provide a financial room in executing this project. Organizing joint research with adequate time allowance is advocated, but the cost of operation would even be higher when the time provides is increased.

Sebek-khu Stele

This written artifact is basically an inscription written to honor Khu-sobek. Khu-sobek was a man who lived during Senusret III’s reign marked between 1878 and 1839. The written artifact was discovered in 1901 by John. The discovery was made outside the man’s tomb in Egypt, at Abydos. The artifact is today housed at Manchester in a museum known as Manchester Museum. The activities leading to the discovery of the written artifact must have been costly in terms of money and time (The University of Manchester: The Manchester Museum ). The budget allocation must have covered the entire process starting from any research conducted, the tools and equipment used, the human capital required, and the labor force. It was financially costly including the decision to shift the artifact from the country of origin to the United Kingdom for preservation measures. The financial gain must have been the key idea behind the decision made to shift the Egyptian aspect of culture to a foreign culture where the culture depicted in the written artifact is entirely foreign (The University of Manchester: The Manchester Museum ). The United Kingdom government must have structured a heavy budget for this written artifact given the high returns that the artifact could generate in the future.

The written artifact has its text talking largely about the life of Khu-sobek. Historically, the artifact is important due to its ability to display detailed records of the earliest Egyptian military possible and its campaign in Canaan as well as elsewhere with the Asian continent. The artifact is in the form of a written limestone stela, which has a rounded top. In the stela, the man is seated before an offering table on the left. Other people seated before him are identified as well. These people are identified as his daughter, his brother, and a nurse, but the other three have unclear relationship (The University of Manchester: The Manchester Museum ). The artifact shows how social-cultural aspects are important to any man. A nurse is employed to ensure that the man as the country’s armed forces commander has the desired health in order to lead the country in good health.

Typically, all artifacts, whether written or cultural have some aspect of social, cultural, and financial meaning. Conserving a country’s culture is taken seriously today, but the budget implications are hardly attractive. The attractive bit of the artifacts is the social and financial gains achieved in the long-run or after some predetermined period. Given the benefits associated with written artifacts such as creating linkage between generations, a country should never looks at the negative side of the associated projects such as high costs of research, excavation, and maintenance.

Works Cited

Korean JoongAng. Buddhist Art News: Interview: Korean monk leading efforts to retrieve cultural artifacts from Japan. 26 May 2013. 10 Mar 2014 <http://buddhistartnews.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/interview-korean-monk-leading-efforts-to-retrieve-cultural-artifacts-from-japan/>.

The Kelsey Museum of Achaeology. Kelsey Museum Newsletter. 2000. 10 Mar 2014. Web. <http://www.umich.edu/~kelseydb/Publications/spring2000/abydos.html>.

The University of Manchester: The Manchester Museum . [3306] Stela, Object, Registered, Africa, Egypt, Upper Egypt, Abydos . 2014. 11 Mar 2014. Online Article. <http://emu.man.ac.uk/mmcustom/Display.php?irn=107040&QueryPage=/mmcustom/narratives/index.php>.

Tobius, Steven M. “Early American Cookbooks as Cultural Artifacts.” Papers on Language and Literature; Winter 1998, Vol.34, No.1 (1998): 3-18. Print.