Alishan Jamshid

February, 17th, 2021

English 210

A cultural artifact is anything created by humans which gives information about the culture of its creator and users. A cultural artifact does not have to be something monumental or historic. A cultural artifact can be something that is personal to you and holds family history. For example, a quilt made by your great grandmother that was passed on to her daughter and then your mother, is a family cultural artifact. My personal cultural artifact would be my family’s 1999 Toyota Corolla XE. While thinking of an artifact I completely overlooked it, while it contains so much history. It is also a perfect example because it is used on a daily and not really thought of as an artifact. 

My family’s 1999 Toyota Corolla is a big personal artifact that is overlooked everyday. This car might just seem like a car at first but it’s been with us for a good period of time and has seen many generations of my family. The Toyota Corolla is kept in Islamabad, Pakistan where it sits in the garage at my home which stays empty for the better half of the year because there is no one back from the United States to live in it. All of my intermediate family has moved to the states leaving the house and car behind to be empty and only touched for maintenance. This car is a big cultural artifact because it has seen my house in Pakistan when it was filled with people and as it gradually gets empty. This car has seated four generations of my family, from my great grandfather and great grandmother all the way down four generations to me and my sister. It has seen the happiest times and the saddest and hardest times with us. This personal artifact at first glance does not mean much to me. It is an old piece of metal with thousands of other ones exactly like it, but with a deeper look into it as I write this paper I realize it means the world to me. Whenever someone from the states comes back to Pakistan they use the car. My father has stayed the year in Pakistan and as a businessman he is working everyday so he uses the car every single day to get around. 

This artifact is significant because its history is overlooked everyday. The Corolla is a workhorse and runs for hours at a time everyday and it is well maintained because whenever my dad comes to Pakistan he replaces everything on it keeping it new. As it sits right now in my garage it is a scratchless dark blue color with sitting on some old aftermarket wheels with tire lettering on the tires. The windows are tinted but you can tell it is old because of the color change because of the sun. It is usually clean because the driver washes it everyday but comes back covered in dust everyday because of the dryness in Pakistan. The rear windshield has whitelettering in urdu that say “Malik Adnan ”. A big part of this car’s history is that it is a symbol of my uncle Adnan. This artifact is connected to the family because it was my uncle’s car. He bought this car when he permanently moved back to Pakistan after years of living in New York. He lived in Pakistan for roughly eight years and used this car everyday. Everyone knew it was Adnan’s car when they saw it pass by, my dad has been stopped while driving the car by people thinking it was my uncle Adnan. My uncle passed away over 5 years ago at the young age of thirty. At times we think of selling the car since it is a bit old and out of date but it is a symbol of my uncle which makes it hard. This artifact is also connected to a major part in my life because when we bought the car the house was a home to a full family, and now after all those years it sits empty for 10 months out of the year. 

Personal artifacts are not just objects that we take care of or keep in a glass case. I have learned that personal artifacts can be anything that holds history. There are a lot of daily objects that we use that we overlook everyday which hold more history that we think. I learned the true meaning of a personal artifact while writing this paper. I acknowledged items I didn’t pay attention to the significance and history of. I did not analyze the history and the meaning of my family’s 1999 Toyota Corolla till now.