ABSTRACT
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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|28 pages
Introduction
part 2|69 pages
On materials innovation
chapter Chapter 2|17 pages
What's in a plant leaf? a case study of materials innovation in New Zealand
chapter Chapter 4|11 pages
Toward designing new sensoaesthetic materials: The role of materials libraries
part 3|54 pages
From substance to form
chapter Chapter 6|18 pages
Wild silk indigo wrappers of Dogon of Mali: An ethnography of materials efficacy and design
chapter Chapter 8|16 pages
Dressing God: Clothing as material of religious subjectivity in a Hindu group
part 4|56 pages
The subversion of form by substance
chapter Chapter 9|19 pages
Introducing Fairtrade and Fairmined gold: An attempt to reconfigure the social identity of a substance
chapter Chapter 10|18 pages
Subversive plasticity: Materials' histories and cultural categories in the Philippines
part 5|56 pages
Ecologies of materials' social lives
chapter Chapter 13|18 pages
The peony and the rose: Social change and fragrance marketing in China's bath market
part 6|18 pages
Conclusion