social science > anthropology / cultural & social
The Social Life of Materials: Studies in Materials and Society
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Materials play a central role in society. Beyond the physical and chemical properties of materials, their cultural properties have often been overlooked in anthropological studies: finished products have been perceived as 'social' yet the materials which comprise them are considered 'raw' or natural'. The Social Life of Materials proposes a new perspective in this interdisciplinary field. Diverting attention from the consumption of objects, the book looks towards the properties of materials and how these exist through many transformations in a variety of cultural contexts.Human societies have always worked with materials. However, the customs and traditions surrounding this differ according to the place, the time and the material itself. Whether or not the material is man-made, materials are defined by social intervention. Today, these constitute one of the most exciting areas of global scientific research and innovation, harboring the potential to act as key vehicles of change in the world. But this 'materials revolution' has complex social implications. Smart materials are designed to anticipate our actions and needs, yet we are increasingly unable to apprehend the composite materials which comprise new products.Bringing together ethnographic studies of cultures from around the world, this collection explores the significance of materials by moving beyond questions of what may be created from them. Instead, the text argues that the materials themselves represent a shifting ground around which relationships, identities and powers are constantly formed and dissolved in the act of making and remaking.
Drazin, Adam: - Adam Drazin lectures in the Department of Anthropology at University College London, UK, where he coordinates the MA in Culture, Materials and Design. He has worked at several universities as well as for multinational companies as a design anthropology consultant, including HP Labs and Intel, and he is external examiner at Glasgow School of Art, department of product design. He has mainly published on the material culture of the Romanian home, and on issues of practice and training in design anthropology. His most recent publication is the edited volume Exhibit Ireland: Ethnographic Collections in Irish Museums (2012).
Küchler, Susanne: - Susanne Kuechler is Professor in Anthropology and Material Culture at University College London, UK. She has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Papua New Guinea and Eastern Polynesia over the past 25 years, studying creativity, innovation and futurity in political economies of knowledge from a comparative perspective. Working from within material culture studies, her work is ethnographic in orientation and is influenced by a close reading of German and French writing on epistemology and the culture of things.
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