Course:MDIA300/Evocative Objects

Background and Overview

Sherry Turkle is an American Sociologist and Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Turkle is renowned for her works and research in the field of psychoanalysis and human-technology interaction. Apart from “Evocative Objects: Things We Think With”, she holds the authorship of multiple other successful published works.

Turkle’s work on “Evocative Objects” contains many autobiographical essays, edited together to explore the possible implications that these seemingly mundane objects can have on people, intellectually and emotionally. She argues that these objects are more than just tools, also acting as mediators of our experiences, and in essence, they are the “things we think with”.

What Makes An Object "Evocative"?

According to Sherry Turkle, an object is “evocative” when it helps us think, feel, remember, and create meaning. To argue that they are more than simply functional tools, Turkle’s collection of essays portrays them as companions that inspire critical thought, visceral emotion, and deep self-reflection from personal connection. Drawing on psychology, anthropology, and philosophy, Turkle shows how material things can shape identity and how the ways we interact with everyday objects are inevitably intertwined with how we create meaning in our lives. As Media Studies students, Turkle’s multidisciplinary framework highlights how all media artefacts actively mediate our thoughts and experiences.

Chapters from Evocative Objects: Things We Think With

Images of Objects	Thematic Section	Summary
A cello, knots, an archive, stars, and keyboards	Objects of Design and Play	This section explores how ordinary everyday objects can serve as tools for discovery, learning, and developing new ideas through their design and our interactions. The essays on the specific objects include Tod Machover’s “My Cello”, Carol Strohecker’s “Knots”, Susan Yee’s “The Archive”, Mitchel Resnick’s “Stars”, and Howard Gardner’s “Keyboards”. This diverse range of objects from authors of various professions illustrates the different ways design can promote cognition and reflection. Ultimately, objects are not merely functional, but can facilitate personal journeys of intellectual and emotional discovery.
ballet slippers, a glucometer, a yellow raincoat, a datebook, a laptop, and "Blue Cheer” pills	Objects of Discipline and desire	This section talks about how objects can act as the physical manifestation of their users’ desires and dreams. They embody the author's ideals and values. In Eden Medina’s “Ballet Slippers”, Joseph Cevetello’s “The Elite Glucometer”, Matthew Belmonte's “The Yellow Raincoat”, Michelle Hlubinka’s “The Datebook”, Annalee Newitz's “My Laptop”, and Gail Wight’s “Blue Cheer”, the authors share their stories of a mediated reality by reflecting on their relationship with these objects of personal significance.
A radio, a bracelet, an axe head, a wine bottle, and a vacuum cleaner	Objects of History and Exchange	This section presents five essays on the topic of history and exchange. Each object exists as an embodiment of the past. In Julian Beinart’s “The Radio”, Irene Castle Mclaughlin’s “The Bracelet”, David Mitten’s “The Axe Head”, Susan Spilecki “Dit Da Jow: Bruise Wine”, and Nathan Greenslit’s “The Vacuum Cleaner” the writers explore items that remind them of what brought them here and reflect on the ancestry that lingers in each object.
A train, a synthesizer, a stuffed bunny, a world book, and a silver pin	Objects of Transition and Passage	The section, Transition and Passage, highlights objects that carry us from one place to the next, both physically and more spiritually. William J. Mitchell’s “The Melbourne Train”, Judith Donath’s “1964 Ford Falcon”, Trevor Pinch’s “The Synthesizer”, Tracy Gleason’s “Murray: The Stuffed Bunny”, David Mann’s “The World Book”, and Susan Rubin Suleiman’s “The Silver Pin”. Alongside these items, the writers evolve through their life and remind them of what they have overcome, their past, or who they are.
A superhero, an instant camera, photographs, a rolling pin, a painting, and a suitcase	Objects of Mourning and Memory	This section explores how objects can be emotional companions that anchor memory and relationships. The essays on the specific everyday objects include Henry Jenkin’s “Death-defying Superheroes”, Stefan Helmreich’s “The SX-70 Instant Camera”, Glorianna Davenport’s “Salvaged Photographs”, Susan Pollack’s “The Rolling Pin”, Caroline A. Jones’ “The Painting In The Attic”, and Olivia Dasté’s “The Suitcase”. These objects all directly link to loved ones from the past. The authors portray them as “transitional objects” that help process grief and substitute for loss. Through powerful personal stories, the world within these objects highlights how material culture can invite self-reflection on mundane things.
A rock, apples, a mummy, a geoid, a pendulum, and slime mold	Objects of Meditation and New Vision	In this section, the authors examine the objects that enforce their reflection of the world and their past. In Nancy Rosenblum’s “Chinese Scholars’ Rock”, Susannah Mandel’s “Apples”, Jeffrey Mifflin’s “The Mummy”, Michael M. J. Fischer’s “The Geoid”, Robert P. Crease’s “Foucault’s Pendulum”, and Evelyn Fox Keller’s “Slime Mold”, the highlighted items are described to reinforce an awe of the vastness of the world and the life they’ve experienced.

Implications and Media Theory

This chapter provides the class with a critical understanding of what it means for something to have a “mediating effect” by encouraging them to explore and formulate their own evocative objects. Through this process, the class was able to engage in meaningful discussions on both an academic and a personal level. Turkle’s Evocative Objects greatly relates to the Critical Terms Presentation, especially with the chapters “Senses” and “Body”. We were encouraged to critically reflect on the ways in which we conceptualise the self, as well as our senses’ role in capturing experiences. This knowledge is once again called upon for our explication of our evocative objects, as we reflect on our personal developments throughout the years.

Turkle’s work is widely and lively discussed on the class’s blog, which reflects the students’ interest in learning more about themselves through the critical lens of media theory. Objects mainly feature childhood articles specific to our cultures and upbringings, as seen with the case of the authors in Turkle’s work. However, a large portion of these objects in the blog are also technological, such as laptops and gaming consoles. Reflecting the new age of the internet and globalization that we all grew up in.