NOTE: I stopped actively adding to this blog in 2013. A quote from my first post on this blog: The purpose of this blog is to make a record of the salts and pepper sets I have collected–to account for why I collect them, to think about why they interest me both as individual setsContinue reading “About This Blog, and How to Find My Discussions of Some of Its Key Ideas”
Category Archives: Irony
Non-Specific Exotica
Since I’ve been looking at orientalist stereotypes, evocations of the mysterious East, this seems like a good time to take a look at this set: Not Asiatic, but still evocative of orientalism and the mysterious other. I think these are maybe supposed to represent some kind of Africans–or Polynesians, or Indonesians or native South Americans,Continue reading “Non-Specific Exotica”
Scriptive Things, Fifth Verse: A Little Bit Louder, A Little Bit Diverse
The question remains the same. Generally speaking, what actions or responses do novelty salt and pepper shakers invite when they appear as part of a table setting for a meal? Most obviously of course, they invite those at the table to shake them, i.e., to put salt and/or pepper on their food–and whatever kind ofContinue reading “Scriptive Things, Fifth Verse: A Little Bit Louder, A Little Bit Diverse”
Oppositional Curating
Looking for some ways of thinking about collections of objects of which one takes a less than purely sympathetic view–the one being me and the objects being my salt and pepper shakers–I came across “Racial Kitsch and Black Performance,” an insightful article by Tavia Nyong’o (Yale Journal of Criticism 15.2 [Fall 2002]: 371-3910. The “racialContinue reading “Oppositional Curating”
Ethnic and Racial Slurs
Shortly after I bought my first set of salt-and-pepper shakers, I came upon this one: It’s a perfect representation of the kind of adorable miniaturized cuteness that defangs–or at least makes less immediately noticeable–its toxicity. What could be less harmful than this cheerful pair of people at rest, depicted in a world of shiny primaryContinue reading “Ethnic and Racial Slurs”
The Ironic Collector Confronts Himself
Let us consider now this set: I’ve chosen it to discuss here because, all things considered, I think it is absolutely the ugliest set in my collection. It’s the flamboyantly lurid orange colour of the shakers that does it, and also the touches of glittery gold paint here and there. Why would a western-type wagonContinue reading “The Ironic Collector Confronts Himself”
Perry Nodelman 