Material Culture and Other Things - Post-disciplinary Studies in the 21st century (original) (raw)
Related papers
Archaeology and the New Materialisms
The Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 2014
This article revisits the object of archaeology in light of the New Materialisms. Orienting recent work around three propositions with respect to the reality and definition of things – that is, things are assemblages, things are participants, and things are things – it lays out the core features of the New Materialisms and goes on to addresses some compelling methodological issues. Ultimately, this article raises a challenge that New Materialist perspectives reveal a self-definition for archaeology, not as the study of the human past through its material remains, but as the discipline of things, as an “ecology of practices” that approaches the world with care and in wonder.
Post-Processual approaches to meanings and uses of material culture in historical archaeology
Historical Archaeology, 1992
Discussions of post-processual archaeology are summarized in order to suggest that historical archaeology is in a particularly good position to answer the post-processual critiques of the "new" archaeology and to create a contextual archaeology that is both historically and anthropologically informed and relevant. The work of four scholars is noted as particularly influential in the development of post-processual approaches.
Archaeology: The discipline of things
"Archaeology has always been marked by its particular care, obligation, and loyalty to things. While archaeologists may not share similar perspectives or practices, they find common ground in their concern for objects monumental and mundane. This book considers the myriad ways that archaeologists engage with things in order to craft stories, both big and small, concerning our relations with materials and the nature of the past. Literally the “science of old things,” archaeology does not discover the past as it was but must work with what remains. Such work involves the tangible mediation of past and present, of people and their cultural fabric, for things cannot be separated from society. Things are us. This book does not set forth a sweeping new theory. It does not seek to transform the discipline of archaeology. Rather, it aims to understand precisely what archaeologists do and to urge practitioners toward a renewed focus on and care for things." REVIEWS: "It is engagingly concerned with the archaeology of the present. It has a rich and up-to-date bibliography, well versed in archaeological theory. It invites us, in an informed way, to reexamine the nature and substance of archaeology. So, despite its lapses, it stands on the side of angels." - Colin Renfrew, University of Cambridge "A broad, illuminating, and well-researched overview of theoretical problems pertaining to archaeology. The authors make a calm defense of the role of objects against tedious claims of 'fetishism.'" -Graham Harman, author of The Quadruple Object "This book exhorts the reader to embrace the materiality of archaeology by recognizing how every step in the discipline's scientific processes involves interaction with myriad physical artifacts, ranging from the camel-hair brush to profile drawings to virtual reality imaging. At the same time, the reader is taken on a phenomenological journey into various pasts, immersed in the lives of peoples from other times, compelled to engage their senses with the sights, smells, and noises of the publics and places whose remains they study. This is a refreshingly original and provocative look at the meaning of the material culture that lies at the foundation of the archaeological discipline." -Michael Brian Schiffer, author of The Material Life of Human Beings “This volume is a radical call to fundamentally rethink the ontology, profession, and practice of archaeology. The authors present a closely reasoned, epistemologically sound argument for why archaeology should be considered the discipline of things, rather than its more commonplace definition as the study of the human past through material traces. All scholars and students of archaeology will need to read and contemplate this thought-provoking book.” -Wendy Ashmore, Professor of Anthropology, UC Riverside
The past two decades have seen exciting advances in modelling the interplay of society and the material world. Part of the interest in the interrelation of sociality and materiality has its origin in the field of practice theory that emerged across a broad spectrum of the social and cultural sciences and continues to thrive in recent debates. Archaeology and other disciplines studying the ancient world have engaged with a range of pertinent ideas originally developed in sociology and anthropology. However, in some sections of this debate the focus recently has shifted towards questions of agency and actor-network-theory, embracing notions of material agency, which overemphasize the role of objects at the expense of human agency. In this lecture series, we will explore recent approaches in practice theory and showcase examples that demonstrate its potential and limitations for interpretation in specific social, material and historical contexts. The series assembles contributions from the ancient world, history, sociology and anthropology and is designed to bring audiences from different backgrounds together for discussion and debate.