Upload
alexandre-enkerli
View
1.737
Download
1
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Citation preview
Week 3 — Social TheorySOCI/ANTH 441 Material CultureAlexandre EnkerliSeptember 17, 2008
Today
•Project talk▫Logistics▫Work with Objects
•Themes in material culture•Theory Tasters
Project Logistics
•Part I due October 1•Can do “prewrite” by September 24•Find thing•Start work on
• Description• Literature
What is it?
•What is it called?•What is it made of?•How are intrinsic elements integrated?•What is it related to?•What is its history?•What is its future?
What does it do?
•What are its effects on the world?▫Material, physical, biological effects▫Psychological, emotional effects▫Social effects
•How does it function?▫Relationship between parts▫Intended uses▫Unintended uses
What does it mean?
•To subject•In group•In cultural context
Diachrony
•History•Story•Genealogy•Biography•Transformation•Shaping•Dynamic
Ethnography
•Cultural diversity•Tradition•Purity•Trash•Representation
Daily Life
•Public/private dichotomy•Domesticity•Use of objects•Ritualization•Sacred/profane
Marxian
•Means of Production•Consumption•Globalization•Commodification•Materialism•Environmentalism•Gift economy
Status and Inequality
•Gender•Age•Class•Ethnicity
Theories
•Not stuck on detail•Named or not•Material culture classics•Adapt frameworks•All related
ANT and SI
•Constructivism (non-essentialism)•Post-modernism and post-structuralism•Architecture•Human+Non-human•Agency
Latour Themes
•Human/non-human agency•Objectification of human agency•Unreliability of object/humans•Function of object and absence of object•Non-human relation to human relations•Subscribing (and style)
Latour Terms
•Scene (people and things)•Delegation (give over)•Prescription (order for action: goal and
modification)•Subscription (conform)•De-inscription (deviate)•Obligatory Passage Point (what has to
occur)•Pre-inscription (everything upstream)
ANT Links
•http://www.istheory.yorku.ca/actornetworktheory.htm
•http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/ant_dff.html
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actor-network_theory
Smith & Bugni Themes
•Places representing people/identities•Expressing self•Reflects/influences•Efficiency•Protecting from over-stimulation•Proximity and urban space (iPod
software)•Intrinsic meaning or possibilities•Sensory dimensions
Lip-Service
Tech World
•Forced adoption•Luddites•Losing jobs to robots•Marrying robots in 50 years?•Technological singularity
Science Culture
•Geek culture•AI
• Hello world• Turing
•Biological machines•Nanotech•Science-Fiction
• Genuine People Personalities (HHGttG)
Next Week
•Domesticity and Gender•Private life and social inequality•Places and objects