ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses consumption as an aspect of material culture. It aims to challenge the perspectives that undertake consumption as synonymous of modern mass consumption and deal with contemporary uses of things as intrinsically different from use in prior times. By turning away from too-broad approaches and towards the specificity of particular forms of consumption, that is the relationships of people with their things, material culture approaches become powerful and productive lenses to address the super diversity that characterizes contemporary social and cultural life, as well as the communality which permeates it. The chapter explores this main feature by focusing on the intersections of the movements of people and things. It summarizes a set of significant contributions which frame contemporary consumption practices as material culture. The chapter also explores the intersections between migration and materiality, and examines the importance of this particular approach to explore the increasing specificities and complexities of contemporary global movements.
