This project explores 177 objects (including tools, vases, goblets, and jewelry) gifted to the Smithsonian institution by Sofia Schliemann, the widow of Heinrich Schliemann. These objects were unearthed between 1871-1890 in northwest Anatolia (modern day Turkey) and are believed to have a connection to the Troy of antiquity, described by Homer sometime around the ninth-to-sixth centuries B.C. We approach the changing meanings of these objects through the ideas of Karl Marx (1818-1883), Marcel Mauss (1872-1950), D. W. Winnicott (1896-1971), and J. C. Flügel (1884-1955). These ideas of commodity-fetishism, exchange and gift-giving, transitional objects, and "the great masculine renunciation," help to illuminate Heinrich Schliemann’s (and the world’s) fascination with Troy and Sophia Schliemann's gift.

Objects in Motion: Student Anthropology Projects (USC Capital Campus, Fall 2025): Homepage

“The Objects in Motion” Project.  Developed by students in Dr. Mark Auslander’s class “Global Studies and Cross Cultural Analysis “‘ (ANTH 205),  at the University of Southern California-Capital Campus.  

Fall 2025