ABSTRACT
In comparison with Chapter 3, this chapter focuses on the acquisition of objects and how objects circulate and travel. It considers how things are acquired both individually and institutionally whilst arguing that although acquisition is normally an active process – in other words, we choose to acquire things – it can also, in some instances, be much more passive and accidental. Drawing on examples from research with individuals, households and institutions, it explores how practices of acquisition are very much related to those of accumulation and how decisions are made about whether to acquire and keep objects on the basis of a variety of factors. Building on this, it considers the influence of the institutional practice of provenance and how provenance acts as a means to understand the material histories and connections that an object has as it travels from one custodian to another. This notion paves the way to consider numerous ways in which objects circulate between different parties and the material traces, connections and affinities that circulate with them. Focusing more on non-monetary forms of circulation, I illuminate how objects travel in both formal and informal ways, from organised sharing/rental platforms circulating objects between strangers, to ad hoc practices of passing on objects between family, friends and neighbours, to accidental forms of circulation such as finding abandoned objects. Such circulations enable not only the travel of objects but also the material affinities that they are physically and imaginatively imbued with. From the perceived bodily contaminants and imaginary histories of unknown others embodied in shared clothing, to the memories, stories and imaginaries imbued within passed-on furniture reproducing kin and kin-like connections – affinities circulate. Finally, the chapter considers the ways in which people try to remove or work with the material traces of others through practices of acclimatisation.
