UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Taste is Within: Decorative Material Culture at Home in Los Angeles and Lima, Peru Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/00t2c997 Author Orlando, Angela Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Taste is Within: Decorative Material Culture at Home in Los Angeles and Lima, Peru A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Angela Marie Orlando 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Taste is Within: Decorative Material Culture at Home in Los Angeles and Lima, Peru by Angela Marie Orlando Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Jeanne E. Arnold, Chair Influential scholars such as Pierre Bourdieu theorize that, because people practice unyielding habitus, members of the same class strata have similar taste and consume art objects reflective of this. In this dissertation, I address the relationships between art that is on display in the homes of 48 families (representing their taste preferences) and a range of economic and social variables. The sample consists of contemporary middle-class households – 32 in Los Angeles, California, and 16 in Lima, Peru. Methodologically, I employ quantitative and qualitative techniques inspired by sociocultural and ethnoarchaeological anthropology. I test several subsets of hypotheses involving such factors as quantity and placement of objects in the homes, socioeconomic status, marital satisfaction, gendered and age-based preference, and socialization of children toward that preference. I also explore the meanings family members ascribe to these artifacts. Photographic and videographic data-gathering methods allow me to examine all of the decorative objects displayed in the houses’ most publicly visible spaces. I use cultural consensus modeling, including semantic analyses of open-ended interviews and a new ii visual preference-ranking technique, to determine congruence between people’s tastes. Among the patterns emerging from the analyses, even non-utilitarian household objects reflect homeowners’ cultural capital, but class, and the cultural capital upon which it partially depends, is but one variable contributing to people’s relationship with their household aesthetic. Some people who self-identify as middle-class consume art that some would consider “fine;” others do not. I posit that taste does not correlate with class as class is traditionally construed. Self- identified middle-class Angelenos and Limeños are not fixed in a habituated aesthetic based on such factors as income or power. Rather, they select from options that are increasing in availability with the rapid global flow of objects and ideas. iii The dissertation of Angela Marie Orlando is approved. Sondra Hale David J. Halle C. Jason Throop Jeanne E. Arnold, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv DEDICATION Dedico esta tesis a la actualidad … v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract of the Dissertation ii Dedication Page v List of Figures viii List of Tables x Acknowledgments xii Vita xv Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Class, Consumerism, and Material Culture: A Brief History of the Theories of the Relationship 26 Chapter Three: Domestic Material Culture and Semiotic Performance 46 Chapter Four: Thirty-two Middle-Class Families in Los Angeles, USA 56 vi Chapter Five: Angeleno Houses and Domestic Aesthetic Artifacts 81 Chapter Six: Middle-Class Lima, Peru: A Path Shining with Promise? 101 Chapter Seven: Sixteen Middle-Class Families in Lima 122 Chapter Eight: Limeño Houses and Domestic Aesthetic Artifacts 140 Chapter Nine: Material Meanings 165 Chapter Ten: Middle-Class Preference: The Evolution of Household Taste 180 Chapter Eleven: Conclusions 212 Appendices 226 References Cited 228 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.1. Location of Participating Families, Los Angeles 60 Figure 4.2. Angeleno Family Combined Annual Incomes 64 Figure 4.3. Highest Degree of Education for All Angeleno Families 68 Figure 4.4. Number of Angeleno Fathers in Defined Ethnic Categories 70 Figure 4.5. Number of Angeleno Mothers in Defined Ethnic Categories 70 Figure 4.6. Number of Angeleno Fathers Born In & Outside of Los Angeles 71 Figure 4.7. Number of Angeleno Mothers Born In & Outside of Los Angeles 72 Figure 4.8. Number of Angeleno Fathers in Defined Health Categories 73 Figure 4.9. Number of Angeleno Mothers in Defined Health Categories 73 Figure 5.1. Angeleno Home Construction by Decade 84 Figure 5.2. Number of Years Angelenos Have Lived in their Home 97 Figure 6.1. Location of Participating Families, Lima 110 Figure 6.2. Limeño Families’ Combined Annual Incomes 115 Figure 7.1. Limeño Fathers’ Birthplace 134 Figure 7.2. Limeño Mothers’ Birthplace 134 viii Figure 8.1. Limeño Home Construction by Decade 141 Figure 10.1. Limeños’ Favorite Preference-Ranked Card 184 Figure 10.2. Limeños’ Least Favorite Preference-Ranked Card 185 Figure 10.3. An Average Preference-Ranked Card 186 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1. Angeleno Parents’ Occupations 65 Table 4.2. Weekly Visitors to the Angeleno Families’ Homes 78 Table 5.1. Angeleno Family Home Sizes 85 Table 5.2. Aesthetic Material Culture Assemblage in Los Angeles Homes 86 Table 5.3. Variables Used to Determine Income/Artifact Relationships: L.A. 91 Table 5.4. Ranked Order of Los Angeles Variables 93 Table 6.1. Household- and Socioeconomic-Determined Income Levels: Lima 115 Table 6.2. Income and Space-Use Construct of Lima Classes 117 Table 6.3. Limeño Household Goods-Based Classification System 118 Table 7.1. Limeño Parents’ & Grandparents’ Occupations 130 Table 7.2. Limeño Parents’ Birthplace 132 Table 7.3. Limeño Families’ Domestic Help 136 Table 8.1. Limeño Demographic Data, Family Home, & Public Room Sizes 142 Table 8.2. Aesthetic Material Culture Assemblage in Lima Houses 147 x Table 8.3. Assemblage Count by Family: Lima 148 Table 8.4. Variables Used to Determine Income/Artifact Relationships: Lima 149 Table 8.5. Ranked Order of Lima Variables 150 Table 8.6. Distribution of Aesthetic Objects in Lima Public Rooms 151 Table 10.1. Descriptors of Preference Among Limeños by Number of Occurrences 182 Table 10.2. Preference-Ranking Results by Individual 187 Table 10.3. Preference-Ranking Results by Card 188 Table 10.4. Preference-Ranking Exercise Matches 189 xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Forty-eight families who gave my peers, my students, and me insight into their private homes (literally) and their hearts. Family here in the U.S.: Lisa and Bob Williams, Marissa and Josh Lawton, Mom, Dad. Gram and Grandpa. The Ball Family, Jim and Suzanne, and Aunt Joan. To say “I’m proud of you” is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give, and you’ve done it my whole life. This dissertation is more than a lot for all of you, and without all of you I simply couldn’t have done it. Tony Ostyn. Coffee, Maggie, Luna, Woody, shoulder rubs, sound help, office space, tact, tactics, and your magical curry soups and breakfasts ... the last year of this journey was so much better because of your presence in my life. Jeanne E. Arnold. You believed in my project, even though at first I wasn’t sure how to execute it. I remember that in 2008 you said, “If anyone can figure it out, it’s you.” I remember that DAILY. I’m grateful that you steered me but did not force me down any one road, and instead gave me the freedom to explore ideas. You’ve improved my writing, shaped my theoretical perspective, and expanded my approach toward anthropology as a holistic field. This dissertation and I have benefited tremendously from your guidance. The avocado soufflé is in the mail. Sondra Hale for taking me on and encouraging me to incorporate gendered notions of space, but mostly for all the work you continue to do on behalf of disenfranchised people, particularly women. You are an inspiration to me: you remind me why I entered this field. Jason Throop. Balancing intelligence, wit, and critical analysis skills with judicious mentoring practices must be difficult at times. I look forward to being as good at all those things as you are. Thank you for serving on my committee when I needed you most. xii David Halle. Your early work specifically influenced my dissertation, and I am so grateful that I took your class early in my UCLA tenure. Your lessons and pedagogy influence my approach. Thank you for steering me toward omnivorism and univorism: this project might have taken another year to write had we not had that conversation. Muriel Vernon for teaching me: “Quand j'étais petit fille, Je repassais mes leçons en chantant. Et bien des années plus tard, Je chassais mes idées noires en chantant.” To Barthelona and subservient chickens! Tommy Bowden for the whiskey, ammo, and cigarettes. Ellen Sharp for the talks about everything, and Amy Bruinooge for the talks about everything. Raed Khadar for the talks about everything. To Guatemala, food, and beekeeping, honeys! Peruvian assistants: Daniel Boyco, Alessandra Ipince, and Andrea Garcia, each of whom escorted me to baffling ’hoods of Lima, helped me avoid paying way too much for cabs, held cakes, translated and typed over screaming, tugging children and mean barking dogs, took photos, went door-to-door to recruit participants, and hopefully learned a little something about the real ethnographic process (and wine lists). U.S. interns, who listened to and wrote down what families said, screamed, and sometimes mumbled, and decoded my Spanish. I couldn’t hear you laugh too hard until it was pizza time. Mike Schiffer. So much help with this document and all that came before it – brain food, vocab and theory refreshing, inspiration to get back to dirt and clay, and did you know that to “build a crap detector” is some of the best advice ever? Christine Eber.