Objects and materials : a Routledge companion / edited by Penny Harvey, Eleanor Conlin Casella, Gillian Evans, Hannah Knox, Christine McLean, Elizabeth B. Silva, Nicholas Thoburn and Kath Woodward.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Harvey, Penelope, 1956-

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Series:

Culture, economy and the social

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Material culture.

Ceremonial objects.

Art objects.

Physical Description:

xviii, 421 pages ; 26 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2014.

Summary:

There is broad acceptance across the humanities and social sciences that our deliberations on the social need to take place through attention to practice, to object-mediated relations, to non-human agency and to the affective dimensions of human sociality. This Companion focuses on the objects and materials found at centre stage, and asks: what matters about objects? Objects and Materials explores the field, providing succinct summary accounts of contemporary scholarship, along with a wealth of new research investigating the capacity of objects to shape, unsettle and exceed expectations. Original chapters from more than 40 international, interdisciplinary contributors address an array of objects and materials to ask what the terms of collaborations with objects and materials are, and to consider how these collaborations become integral to our understandings of the complex, relational dynamics that fashion social worlds. Objects and Materials will be of interest to students and scholars across the social sciences and humanities, including in sociology, social theory, science and technology studies, history, anthropology, archaeology, gender studies, women's studies, geography, cultural studies, politics and international relations, and philosophy. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Objects and materials: an introduction / Penny Harvey Harvey, Penny, Hannah Knox Knox, Hannah 1

Part I Material qualities 19

Introduction / Gillian Evans Evans, Gillian 19

2 An interview with artist Helen Barff / Gillian Evans Evans, Gillian 27

3 A poor workman blames his tools or how irrigation systems structure human actions / Maurits W. Ertsen Ertsen, Maurits W. 40

4 The material construction of state power: artifacts and the new Rome / Chandra Mukerji Mukerji, Chandra 50

5 The material politics of solid waste: decentralization and integrated systems / Penny Harvey Harvey, Penny 61

6 From stone to god and back again: why we need both materials and materiality / Soumhya Venkatesan Venkatesan, Soumhya 72

7 New materials and their impact on the material world / Susanne Küchler Küchler, Susanne, Peter Oakley Oakley, Peter 82

8 Decay, temporality and the politics of conservation: an archaeological approach to material studies / Eleanor Conlin Casella Casella, Eleanor Conlin, Karina Croucher Croucher, Karina 92

Part II Affective objects 103

Introduction / Eleanor Conlin Casella Casella, Eleanor Conlin, Kath Woodward Woodward, Kath 103

9 Boxing films: sensation and affect / Kath Woodward Woodward, Kath 109

10 Tactile compositions / Kathleen Stewart Stewart, Kathleen 119

11 Bodies and cadavers / Maryon McDonald McDonald, Maryon 128

12 Domination and desire: the paradox of Egyptian human remains in museums / Karen Exell Exell, Karen 144

13 A dream of falling: philosophy and family violence / Patricia Ticineto Clough Clough, Patricia Ticineto 156

14 Sarah Kofman's father's pen and Bracha Ettinger's mother's spoon: trauma, transmission and the strings of virtuality / Griselda Pollock Pollock, Griselda 162

15 Spectral objects: material links to difficult pasts for adoptive families / Steven D. Brown Brown, Steven D., Paula Reavey Reavey, Paula, Helen Brookfield Brookfield, Helen 173

Part III Unsettling objects 183

Introduction / Elizabeth B. Silva Silva, Elizabeth B. 183

16 Haunting in the material of everyday life / Elizabeth B. Silva Silva, Elizabeth B. 187

17 The fetish of connectivity / Morten Axel Pedersen Pedersen, Morten Axel 197

18 Useless objects: commodities, collections and fetishes in the politics of objects / Nicholas Thoburn Thoburn, Nicholas 208

19 The unknown objects of object-orientation / Matthew Fuller Fuller, Matthew, Andrew Goffey Goffey, Andrew 218

20 How things can unsettle / Martin Holbraad Holbraad, Martin 228

21 Objects are the root of all philosophy / Graham Harman Harman, Graham 238

Part IV Interface objects 247

Introduction / Nicholas Thoburn Thoburn, Nicholas 247

22 True automobility / Tim Dant Dant, Tim 251

23 The environmental teapot and other loaded household objects: reconnecting the politics of technology, issues and things / Noortje Marres Marres, Noortje 260

24 Interfaces: the mediation of things and the distribution of behaviours / Celia Lury Lury, Celia 272

25 Idempotent, pluripotent, biodigital: objects in the 'biological century' / Adrian Mackenzie Mackenzie, Adrian 282

26 Real-izing the virtual: digital simulation and the politics of future making / Hannah Knox Knox, Hannah 291

27 Money frontiers: the relative location of euros, Turkish lira and gold sovereigns in the Aegean / Sarah Green Green, Sarah 302

28 Algorithms and the manufacture of financial reality / Marc Lenglet Lenglet, Marc 312

Part V Becoming object 323

Introduction / Chris McLean McLean, Chris, Gillian Evans Evans, Gillian 323

29 Animal architextures / John Law Law, John, Marianne Elisabeth Lien Lien, Marianne Elisabeth 329

30 Objects made out of action / Matei Candea Candea, Matei 338

31 Quantitative objects and qualitative things: ethics and HIV biomedical prevention / Mike Michael Michael, Mike, Marsha Rosengarten Rosengarten, Marsha 349

32 Potentialities and possibilities of needs assessment: objects, memory and crystal images / Chris McLean McLean, Chris 359

33 Digital traces and the 'print' of threat: targeting populations in the war on terror / Alexandra Hall Hall, Alexandra, Jonathan Mendel Mendel, Jonathan 370

34 Intangible objects: how patent law is redefining materiality / Mario Biagioli Biagioli, Mario 380

35 Thinking through place and late actor-network-theory spatialities / Robert Oppenheim Oppenheim, Robert 391

36 What documents make possible: realizing London's Olympic legacy / Gillian Evans Evans, Gillian 399.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780415678803

0415678803

OCLC:

748335406

Publisher Number:

99954692550