Sociology Project: Exploring Sentimental Objects and Memories

This project explores the significance of sentimental objects in shaping personal narratives and evoking memories. The assignment presents two student submissions, each focusing on an object of sentimental value. The first student discusses a childhood football, detailing its emotional importance and the memories associated with it. The second student describes a slingshot crafted by their father, highlighting its transformation from a farming tool to a symbol of survival during the Khmer Rouge regime. The project also includes lecture notes from a sociology course, discussing narrative analysis, the role of objects in storytelling, and the concept of associational objects. The lecture notes reference academic articles and provide insights into how objects can anchor narratives and prompt feelings. The assignment demonstrates the power of objects to evoke strong emotions and connect individuals to their past experiences. The project offers a comprehensive understanding of how objects can be interpreted within their social and cultural contexts.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIOLOGY
Object of sentimental value: My childhood football
This football was one of the first gifts that I got from my father at a very early age. I got
this gift from my father during the 1990s when I was a child and I was very passionate about
playing football. I always used to go out and play football with my friends of my locality. Some
of those friends were very enthusiastic about playing cricket but I was an ardent lover of football
completely. I always wanted to play football from the very beginning. During those years, it was
very hard to get the designed footballs like we get to see in the modern football. This shows the
passion and love I had and still have for this game called football.
I would say this is one of those objects in our house that have been there with me for a
long period of time. Rather, this has been attached to my sentiment completely. This object was
so close that when we shifted to our new house few years ago, it was the first thing that I had put
in my bag. This object was made of leather and I was very much happy when my father bought it
for me. Though it was a very ordinary looking ball, it was the ultimate source of my happiness. I
travelled many parts of the country with my parents by I still carried it with me everywhere. I
had several friends in my neighborhood who to steal it from me on different occasions. All my
family members used to scold me whenever I wanted to go out and play football by disrupting
my studies completely.

2SOCIOLOGY
This football indicated to me that I had the passion to become a professional player in
future and a very successful human being. This was the ultimate source through which I could
grow my bonding up in every way. The critics have stated that “objects will evoke strong
feelings and memories”. In my case, this was also the scenario. I used to love that object so much
that I would not let it go. This is why it has to be kept in mind that that everyone should keep
their best loved objects to them only. Thus, many sweet memories will be created and it will last
long forever also. We have to hold on to all the good memories that we have in our lives.

3SOCIOLOGY
Bibliography
Freud, A. (2018). Normality and pathology in childhood: Assessments of development.
Routledge.
Nuttall, J., Edwards, S., Mantilla, A., Grieshaber, S., & Wood, E. (2015). The role of motive
objects in early childhood teacher development concerning children’s digital play and
play-based learning in early childhood curricula. Professional development in
education, 41(2), 222-235.