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Published VersionCC BY-NC V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
The commercial and regional imagery of big things: Establishing a foundation for the study of oversized roadside landmarks
Journal of Material Culture, Vol.29(1), pp.3-25
2024
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
The highly visible yet poorly studied phenomenon of roadside colossi—oversized commercial buildings and statues in the shape of everyday objects, referred to in this article as Big Things— has often been dismissed as a kitschy by-product of American postwar consumerism and car culture. There are no universal definitions or typologies for this form of material culture, nor is there a sufficiently global history that explains the origin, spread and contemporary popularity of these landmarks. In this article, I address these gaps in the discourse, drawing attention to the rich yet largely untapped theoretical underpinnings of Big Things. In doing so, I highlight the potential for further study of these landmarks as material evidence of broader socio-cultural impulses, particularly in communities across North America and Australia, where Big Things can be found in their greatest numbers.
Details
- Title
- The commercial and regional imagery of big things: Establishing a foundation for the study of oversized roadside landmarks
- Authors
- Amy Clarke (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Sustainability Research Cluster
- Publication details
- Journal of Material Culture, Vol.29(1), pp.3-25
- Publisher
- Sage Publications Ltd.
- Date published
- 2024
- DOI
- 10.1177/13591835231225350
- ISSN
- 1460-3586; 1359-1835
- Copyright note
- © The Author(s) 2024. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
- Data Availability
- The data set associated with this paper is not currently publicly available, due to ongoing research privacy and human ethics requirements. The Corresponding Author will consider individual requests to access the data set upon contact by email.
- Grant note
- This work was supported by the Duke University - Visiting Research Fellowship (Rubenstein Library) 2018-2019.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99988798902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Web Of Science research areas
- Anthropology
- Archaeology
- Cultural Studies