The Social Life of Materials: Studies in Materials and Society

Description

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.

Adam Drazin lectures in the Department of Anthropology at University College London, UK, where he coordinates the MA in Culture, Materials and Design. Susanne Kuchler is Professor of Anthropology and Material Culture at University College London, UK.

Materials matter. The Social Life of Materials provides an accessible and fascinating collection of case studies exploring the meanings and properties of materials, and their relations to the things made with them and how we use them. By considering both substantial attributes and cultural meanings, an unusually rich sense of materiality is developed. Drazin and Kuchler have assembled an innovative collection which consolidates and extends work in this new "science of the concrete". Collectively, the authors succeed in showing the value of looking beyond objects and things to the materials which constitute them. The theoretical and empirical work presented here establishes a rich and authoritative range of intellectual innovations and approaches. It will interest researchers across the social sciences, arts and design studies, and the humanities. During a moment in which "materiality" is casually invoked across the humanities and social sciences, this vibrant volume demands that we take seriously both the specific properties of materials themselves and the social relationships activated through their technical use and circulation. It thereby firmly stakes a place for anthropology and ethnographic methods in the so-called "material turn." The Social Life of Materials proves beyond a doubt that anthropologists cannot rest with an anthropology of objects because objects are compositions and transformations of materials that have their own biography, meaning, and morality. The chapters here are a successful commencement of a much richer anthropology of materials. * Anthropology Review Database * Overall, this is a welcome volume that offers a wealth of insights, extends current debates in material culture, and brings us to a better understanding of the way materials affect and transform our daily lives. * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *