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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 Kuechler is Professor of Anthropology and Material Culture at University College London, UK.
Foreword1. Introduction: To Live in a Materials WorldAdam Drazin and Susanne Küchler, both University College London, UK
Part I: On Materials Innovation2. What's in a Plant Leaf? Material Innovation and Shifting Environments in New ZealandGraeme Were, University of Queensland, Australia3. Pharmaceutical Matters: The Invention of Informed Materials Andrew Barry, Oxford University, UK4. Towards Designing New Sensoaesthetic MaterialsMark Miodownik, University College London, UK5. The Science of Sensory Evaluation: An Ethnographic CritiqueDavid Howes, Concordia University, Canada
Part II: From Substance to Form6. Wild Silk Indigo Textiles of West Africa: Towards an Ethnography of Materials Laurence Douny, University College London, UK7. Fashioning Plastic: Changing Materials in DesignTom Fisher, University of Nottingham, UK8. Dressing for God: Cloth as Substance of Hindu Consciousness in ISKCON Urmila Mohan, University College London, UK
Part III: The Subversion of Form by Substance9. Introducing Fairtrade and Fairmined Gold: An Attempt to Reconfigure the Social Identity of a SubstancePeter Oakley, Royal College of Art, UK10. Subversive Plasticity: Materials' Histories and Cultural Categories in the PhilippinesDeirdre McKay, Keele University, UK11. Diamonds, Machines and Colors: Moving Materials in Ritual ExchangeFilipe Calvao, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland
Part IV: Ecologies of Materials12. The Woollen Blanket and its Value(s) Fiona McDonald, University College London, UK13. The Peony and the Rose: Social Change and Fragrance Marketing in China's Bath MarketChow Wah Chan, independent scholar, Singapore14. Sustainability and the Co-production of Substances and Citizens in the UK Materials Industry Sarah Wilkes, University College London, UK
The Implications of Materials Innovation and Disposal15. Materials: The Story of UseSusanne Küchler, University College London, UK
NotesBibliographyIndex
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