Material culture
In the social sciences, material culture is a term, developed in the late 19th and early 20th century, that refers to the relationship between artifacts and social relations.[1]
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In archaeology [edit]
An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place, which are thought to constitute the remains of the material culture or material history of a particular past human society. By definition, pre-historical societies did not have writing to record personal or group histories, nor ephemeral aspects of culture, such as language, music, daily work and recreational practices, religion, and social organization. This leaves the physical artifacts as the only record of the civilization, and these are used to associate a given site and time period with a given society. Physical artifacts are also used to make inferences about the ephemeral aspects of culture and history.[2][3]
With more recent societies, written histories, oral traditions, and direct observations may also be available to supplement the study of material culture.
In anthropology and cultural studies [edit]
People's relationship to and perception of objects are socially and culturally dependent.[4] The perceived importance of our material heritage was expressed in 1976 by a UNESCO panel that claimed "cultural property is a basic element of people’s identity and ‘being depends on having’ (Rowlands, 2002: 127)" [5] Although protecting cultural heritage can help to empower minorities, preoccupations with official monuments can also silence diverse histories.[6]
This discourse has its roots in museums, but there has been "a shift from such favored objects of theory as Stonehenge and Kula valuables to consumables like tomato soup".[7] This shift is also made visible by the number of books that explore our engagement with the physical world through specific objects; Pencils, zippers, toilets, tulips, etc.[8]
Current production [edit]
Some observers advocate intentionally altering the material cultures current civilizations are creating. For example, waste reduction advocates within environmentalism advocate teaching design approaches such as cradle-to-cradle design and appropriate technology. Anti-consumerism advocates encourage consuming less (thus creating fewer artifacts), engaging in more do-it-yourself projects and self-sufficiency (changing the quality of artifacts produced), and localism impacts the geographic distribution and uniformity of artifacts.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Dan Hicks (2010). The Material-Cultural Turn: event and effect. In Dan Hicks and Mary C. Beaudry (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Material Culture Studies. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-921871-4.
- ^ Renfrew, Colin; Bahn, Paul (2004). Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice (4th ed.). London: Thames & Hudson. p. 12. ISBN 0-500-28441-5.
- ^ Kris Hurst, K. "Material Culture". About.com : Archaeology. About.com. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
- ^ Appadurai, Arjun, ed. (1988). The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-35726-5.
- ^ Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld (2003). "Introduction : Matter Unbound". Journal of Material Culture 8: 251. doi:10.1177/13591835030083001.
- ^ Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld (2003). "Introduction : Matter Unbound". Journal of Material Culture 8: 251. doi:10.1177/13591835030083001.
- ^ Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld (2003). "Introduction : Matter Unbound". Journal of Material Culture 8: 246. doi:10.1177/13591835030083001.
- ^ See: Henry Petroski, The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance (New York, 1989); Robert Friedel, Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty (New York, 1994); Julie L. Horan, The Porcelain God: A Social History of the Toilet (New York, 1997); Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World, (Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2002)
