Thus, each of the categories discussed has given rise to numerous questions and possible areas of investigation regarding the possible meaning of the oriental carpet in the West. How then are some of these issues to be addressed? In attempting to reconstruct the various discourses that are currently prevalent regarding the meaning of the oriental carpet, it only seems appropriate that we allow those individuals who are actively involved with rug culture, to speak for themselves. Two sources offer an excellent insight into what, in light of our questions, is the current meanings of the oriental carpet in context. Specifically, by undergoing both a systematic analysis of Hali and interviews with collectors, dealers, aficiondo's, auction houses, and curators, it will be possible to reconstruct the various levels of meaning that each of these individuals and rug culture as a whole bring to the symbol of the oriental carpet. In regards to Hali, through analysing and tracing this journals history in terms of the "language" it uses to constitute the meaning of the oriental carpet, it will be possible to historically reconstruct the various shifts in discourse. This will be particularly helpful in understanding how an object, such as a Gabbeh, suddenly comes to take on meaning or value in the West. This historical method is borrowed from the early thought of Michel Foucault. For Foucault, language was the key to understanding how things are "constituted, developed and manipulated. In many ways, what is important is not the particular history of an actual thing, but rather, how language comes to shape its meaning. As Robert Mugerauer identifies, for Foucault, although "we can do a history of things, there is little point in pursuing that course, since things are not primary. Language or discourse is." This is not to get away from the actual material culture, in this case the oriental carpet, but rather, to explore its shifting symbolic significance in terms of the Western context and in particular within the confines of rug culture.
In regards to the interviews, Grant McCracken's The Long Interview, serves as an excellent source and guide to their structure and to the possibility of asking open ended questions. As a result, it will be the principal methodology used during the conducting of interviews. To date, I have or will be contacting a number of dealers, collectors, auction houses and aficionados in order to develop an understanding of the prevalent discourses that constitute rug culture. Again, by understanding the language in which the meaning of the oriental carpet is constituted, it will be possible to outline the current perspectives that are relevant to its social significance. In some sense, this project amounts to an attempt at portraying a history that is often lost in grand theory approaches to explaining social phenomenon. Indeed, by focusing on the oral history or popular level folk lore that constitutes the meaning of the oriental carpet within rug culture, I hope to be able to capture something of its immediate and every day meaning in Western culture. Hopefully, this approach will also allow us to investigate some of the areas that we have identified as central to a understanding of the oriental carpet in terms of its own history and importance in material culture.
A Final Thought
Thus, in light of our original truism that, "the carpet means many different things to many different people," it has become clear that this idea is worthy of exploration. In all three areas roughly defined as Orientalism, the Collector, and Commoditization, numerous questions have been raised on the basis of the existing academic literature that allow for the possibility of an exploration of the symbolic meaning of the oriental carpet. In the most general sense, this project is an attempt to see if it is possible to reconcile the various theoretical positions in these areas with the perception of carpet culture on the popular level. Given Said's, Helfgott's, Muensterberger's, and Belk's critique of the motivations behind both society and the individual collector, carpet appreciation and collection as a social practice in the West almost appears as a corrupted and highly deviant form of personal expression. In short, oriental carpet appreciation has taken on the status in the academic literature of a "bad word." Does this have to be so? Is it possible to view carpet culture in a positive light? Is the moral justification of carpet acquisition and appreciation even possible? If so, on what level? These questions offer yet another area of investigation worthy of contemplation. Finally, for the sake of brevity, I have excluded specific citations and extended argument development for many of the authors I have discussed. Specific sources, bibliography, or extended argument development, can be obtained through e-mail correspondence.