Materiality and Social Life

Human sociality would be impossible without the mediation of material things through which consciousness is shared and “culture” is formed, and such collective immaterial worlds are deeply embedded within the production and perception of material reality. This course examines the way we produce social relationality, social forms, cultural schemas, and structures of power and hierarchy by consuming, exchanging, making, and inhabiting the things around us. We will investigate the relationship between materiality and meaning both in the historical development of the human species and across a wide variety of contemporary societies, from hunter-gatherers to the high consumerism of contemporary capitalism. In the anthropological tradition of problematizing the opposition between persons and things, the course considers hybrids such as fetishes, masks, relics, art objects, historical antiquities and other sacred objects for what they can tell us about more quotidian interactions between humans and their possessions. Consumer culture, fashion, and self-construction through the display of things are all social activities at the core of sociality in capitalist societies, materializing and fixing cultural categories such as gender, ethnicity, class, and generation. Through ethnographic exploration of cognitive and social consequences of tools, technological transformation, and rampant accumulation of possessions we will discover the agency of material things and the ways in which materiality often exceeds our efforts to culturally constrain matter within social expectations. Finally, we will explore the environmental consequences of contemporary practices around materiality, the sheer excess of human production, and what social alternatives might produce alternative material realities.

Connaissances et compétences pré-requises ou co-requises

Students who are interested in the course but do not meet prerequisites should ask permission of the professor.

The course is a hybrid between ex cathedra teaching and seminar. Students are expected to arrive in class having read the required reading and prepared questions or comments about it to contribute to the discussion, which forms the core of the class. The professor will complement these discussions with lecture materials, powerpoints, and the occasional film.

Students can compensate for absence with a critical written response turned in on UV before the class session is completed. 

Références, bibliographie et lectures recommandées

These are provided in the course plan available on UV

Support(s) de cours

• Université virtuelle

Contacts

alexander.newell@ulb.be
 

Campus

Solbosch

Méthode(s) d'évaluation

• Evaluation continue
• Portfolio
• Examen oral

Evaluation continue

Portfolio

Examen oral

50% written essay(s)
50% oral exam

Construction de la note (en ce compris, la pondération des notes partielles)

50% written essay(s)
50% oral exam

Langue(s) d'évaluation

• anglais