An archaeology of the immaterial / Victor Buchli.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Buchli, Victor, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Material culture--Study and teaching.

Material culture.

Material culture--Philosophy.

Immaterialism (Philosophy).

Asceticism.

Transcendence (Philosophy).

Material culture--Western countries--History.

Technological innovations--Western countries--History.

Technological innovations.

Civilization, Western.

Social archaeology--Western countries.

Social archaeology.

History.

Philosophy.

Western countries.

Physical Description:

x, 189 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2016.

Summary:

"An Archaeology of the Immaterial examines a highly significant but poorly understood aspect of material culture studies: the active rejection of the material world. This is evident in a number of cultural projects, including anti-consumerism and asceticism, as well as other attempts to transcend material circumstances. Exploring the cultural work which can be done when the material is rejected, and the social effects of these 'dematerialisations', this book looks at the way people 'disengage' from the world as a specific kind of physical engagement which has profound implications for our understanding of personhood and materiality. Using case studies which range widely in time over Western societies and the technologies of materialising the immaterial, from icons to the scanning tunnelling microscope, Buchli addresses the significance of immateriality for our own economics, cultural perceptions, and emerging forms of social inclusion and exclusion. An Archaeology of the Immaterial is thus an important and innovative contribution to material cultural studies, demonstrating that the making of the immaterial as well as the material are both profoundly powerful operations which work to exert social control and delineate the borders of the imaginable and the enfranchised"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Immateriality and the ascetic object in early Christianity

The Christian ascetic object before the Reformation

The Reformation and the problem of visibility and proximity

Leninism, immateriality and modernity.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415840491

041584049X

9780415840507

0415840503

OCLC:

908250125