The material turn
The material turn, which emerged in the 1990’s, is the result of a much older debate within archaeology and anthropology. In order to understand the meaning and the consequences of the material turn, we have first to understand the position objects and things occupied in the in archaeology prior to the material turn. During the mid-nineteenth century, archaeologists used the “Three Age” system created by Christian Thomsen to give structure to European prehistory. Within this system, objects were evaluated on their technological level and use, in order to define changing time periods in Europe. This naturally resulted in a rigorous study of objects and during the 1870’s and 1880’s ideas of artefact typology (the analysis
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However, in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s more and more archaeologists objected against this approach. They argued that material culture had become little more than a literary device, which could be used to generate accounts of the human past and that objects do far more than simply represent (Hicks 2010, 73-74). These arguments generally have in common the sentiment that in the past archaeologists somehow forgot about things in their own sense. As Olsen argued: “archaeologists had moved away from things, materially and subsumed themselves to hegemonic anti-material and social constructivist theories” (Olsen 2003 in Hicks 2010, 76). This had led in the past decades to a refocus on things, which has been termed as the “material turn”. Most recently this has led to creation of various “sub-fields”, within the material turn, such as Bruno’s Latour “symmetrical arcaheology”, Daniel Miller’s replacement of “material culture” with “materiality” and Tim Ingold arguing for a focus upon “materials” rather than some generalized essence of “materiality”. I will not discuss these sub-fields in detail, however it is sufficient to say that scholars within the material turn tend to highlight the relation between the social and the material, by focusing on the role of materiality and the material agency …show more content…
This field has been greatly influenced by authors such as Foucault and Butler, since a central part of the resistance literature focusses on the notion of understanding and studying power and social change (Tornberg 2013). With such as focus on power resistance studies have been primarily been studying on how hierarchical discourses and power relations are produced, reproduced and also challenged in ordinary speech and everyday acts of resistance. Hence the main question within resistance studies has been: how do people use identities, images, symbols, different counter-discourses and resistance narratives to challenge the dominant discourses and the construction of power (Tornberg 2013). As it has become clear by now, resistance studies has been to a large extent been affected and characterized by a preoccupation on immaterial cultural processes and not-so-tangible entities such as texts, signs, symbols, identity and language. This is due to the fact that in resistance studies, the material has been treated as an outcome and/or medium in which social relations are produced or reproduced. From this perspective, the archaeological material is rendered to simply a text to be decoded or a symbolic bearer of meaning, and the material world simply to an external environment in which the “real interesting analysis” takes place (Tornberg 2013). Little
To identify the specific type, functions and time period of the artifacts, various archaeology books, reports, and journal were referred. The interpretation was then conducted by dividing the artifacts into different area on the map and investigating their relationships.
...ncyclopedia of Archaeology, Ed. Deborah M. Pearsall. Vol. 3. Oxford, United Kingdom: Academic Press, 2008. p1896-1905. New Britain: Elsevier, Inc.
The BBC, n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 21 Apr. 2014 Clark, G. T. "The Archaeological Journal." The Archaeological Journal.
They were mostly seen as having a purely anthropological value. However, the artefacts brought to England from Benin in 1897 were an anomaly. The craftsmanship and sophistication were such that some were reminiscent of the beautiful figures in the Hofkiche, Innsbruck 1502-1563 (plate 3.1.12. Visited in 2008).... ...
Foucault is a social historian, who helped develop the conceptualization of power by arguing power to be a “dimension of individual or institutional claims to knowledge.” (Moberg, 317). As in, the domination of others is not only practiced through economic coercion or through physicality, but also that power can be demonstrated through the use of knowledge and discourse. As a result, Foucault argues that much of our conceptualization of knowledge, power and what is deemed to be ‘true’ is actually controlled by western societies institutions. Moberg writes, “In short, it is power, wealth, and privileged status rather than evidence that determines what is true” (Moberg, 317). This explains how previous Anthropologists, ‘scientific’ accounts in their ethnographies are lacking adequate representation of the culture they are studying, which plays an important role in postmodernism. This examination regarding the validity of the work of previous Anthropologists prior to postmodernism, can be seen in the joining of hermeneutics, deconstruction and Foucault’s notion of
Discussions in the 1970’s and 1980’s within both sides of the debate indicate population change, behavior change and natural processes to be the large determining factors (Attenbrow, 2004). Many archaeologists accepted there was a continuing increase over time in the number of archaeological sites established and used, as well as in the number of artefacts accumulated in individual sites, particularly in the past 5000 years (eg. Johnson 1979:39; Bowdler1981; Morwood 1984:371, 1986, 1987; Ross 1984, 1985:87; Beaton 1985: 16-18; Fletcher-Jones 1985: 282, 286; Lourandos 1985a: 393-411, 1985b: 38; White and Habgood 1985; Hiscock 1986) (Attenbrow, 2004). Population change refers to the changes in number of people or size of the population, behavioural changes referring to changes to activities such as tool manufacturing, subsistence practices as well as the use of space within a site (Attenbrow, 2004). Whilst natural processes include geomorphological and biological process that may have affected the archaeological record (At...
Finding out about antiques, relics, and customs through narrating has formed who I am. These three things have inhabited of all societies to realize who they are. Family customs demonstrate how individuals experience their lives and cooperate with others. They additionally indicate how individuals respond when a relative weds into a group of an alternate ethnic foundation. Relics are great cases of material things that can instruct about one 's family history. Antiquities show who individuals are. This is valid for every single ethnic foundation.
Processual Archaeology, was a movement in the archaeological field that began in the 1960‘s and changed the course of archaeology forever. Anthropologists such as Julian Steward were absolutely influential on many archaeologists and anthropologists during the early 1960s with his theories of cultural ecology which established a scientific way of understanding cultures as human adaption to the surrounding environment (Steward, 1955: 36-38). It was approaches such as Stewards that led eventually led to a rejection of culture-historical approaches to the archaeological record and propelled the ideas of cultural evolution and its reaction with the environment. This approach to cultural systems was essentially a rejection of the culture-historical approach of determinism by suggesting that the environment influences culture but is not a deterministic feature and that both culture and the environment were two separate systems that are dependent on each other for change (Steward, 1955: 36).
In Disgrace the author J. M. Coetzee presents the main character David Lurie with a series of ironic events throughout the novel. David Lurie is a professor at a university and rapes one of his students, Melanie Isaacs. As a result, David loses his job and decides to visit his daughter Lucy. While he is visiting his daughter they encounter two men and a boy who rape her. This is ironic, because David ends up going through the same trials that he caused Melanie’s loved ones. Now he is experiencing what they went through with his own daughter and is able to see their outlook on the situation. By paralleling the two rape cases, Coetzee uses the irony of the situation to finally make David understand his own wrongdoing.
According to The Society for American Archaeology, the definition of Archaeology is, “to obtain a chronology of the past, a sequence of events and dates that, in a sense, is a backward extension of history.” The study of ancient civilizations and archaeology is rather ambiguous due to the primitive nature of the time period. With little imagery and even less textual evidence, professionals in the field must work diligently when studying their subjects. Naturally, archaeologists cannot see or communicate with those whom they are studying, so they must be extraordinarily meticulous when analyzing past cultures. This relates to all aspects of the ancient world including; foods, raw materials, artifacts, agriculture, art work and pottery. All of these elements can collectively provide new and innovative information to curious archaeologists who may wish to gain a better understanding of those who came before us. This information is equally beneficial for both historians and archaeologists who plan to compare the histories of societies from all around the world. In the world of archaeology, archaeologists strive to better explain human behavior by analyzing our past. Therefore, the study of archaeology is a key element in understanding a time before our own.
Culture has a variety of meanings in our daily lives. Culture is defined as objects created by a society as well as the ways of thinking, acting, and behaving in a society (Macionis). Culture has a variety of elements that is important in understand. To grasp culture, we must consider both thoughts and things. Culture shapes not only what we do, but also what we think and how we feel.
Evidence of organized settlements dating from this period has been found, and artefacts produced are mainly associated with burials. Objects were put into the grave with the body for the use of the spirit in the next life; thus a great quantity of such personal goods as pottery, tools, and weapons has been preserve...
Brooks, Mick. "What Is Historical Materialism." Maxism. 14 Nov. 2002. Web. 25 May 2012. .
When it comes to anthropological theory the combination of several established ways of thought often result in a completely new and independent way of thinking. Cultural Materialism is one of these children theories that resulted from a coming together of social evolutionary theory, cultural ecology and Marxist materialism (Barfield). The goal of cultural materialism is to explain politics, economics, ideology and symbolic aspects of a culture with relation to the needs of that society. From a cultural materialist point of view society is indisputably shaped by the factors of production and reproduction. From this all other facets of society, such as government and religion, must be beneficial to that society’s ability to satisfy the minimum requirements to sustain themselves (Harris 1996). An example of this would be the invention and continued use of industry because it increased the ability to produce needed materials and food. One important aspect of the cultural materialistic approach is that it operates completely from the etic perspective. Marvin Harris, one of the founders of cultural materialism, believed that a holistic approach is vital to correctly analyzing culture and believed that the emic approach failed at providing a wide enough scope. Harris tried to employ the scientific method and incorporated it into his theory. The result of this is that cultural materialism focuses only on events that are observable and quantifiable and replicable (Harris 1979). Cultu...
Archaeologists are scattered across the gamut. Considering knowledge of human past is valuable to numerous academic disciplines. Varieties of archaeological application include: cultural resource management, heritage conservation, historic preservation,