The Place of Objects and Things in the Age of Materiality

This essay reprises the status of objects in relation to critical conversations that favor things and thing studies over other methodologies of material culture studies. Recent discussions have dismissed objects as passive foils that lack in meaning. Glossing the factor of representation, however, t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Brückner Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2019-01-01
Series:Open Cultural Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2019-0042
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spelling doaj-4b29f9cc954f45fcab02c668db3a39f22021-09-06T19:19:47ZengDe GruyterOpen Cultural Studies2451-34742019-01-013149450210.1515/culture-2019-0042culture-2019-0042The Place of Objects and Things in the Age of MaterialityBrückner Martin0University of Delaware, Newark, DE, UNITED STATESThis essay reprises the status of objects in relation to critical conversations that favor things and thing studies over other methodologies of material culture studies. Recent discussions have dismissed objects as passive foils that lack in meaning. Glossing the factor of representation, however, these discussions have also glossed over a factor crucial in shaping the way in which the distinction between objects and things is made accessible in theory and practice. Two examples taken from eighteenth-century American literary culture, an anecdote by Benjamin Franklin and a sales ad published by the Pennsylvania Gazette, illustrate how in the process of representation objects become imbued with significance that reaches beyond mere signification and object classification. Once conceived as ‘material signs,’ objects become participants in cognitive environments in which seemingly meaningless symbols foster meaningful engagement with materiality.https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2019-0042objectsrepresentationmaterial culture studies
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Brückner Martin
spellingShingle Brückner Martin
The Place of Objects and Things in the Age of Materiality
Open Cultural Studies
objects
representation
material culture studies
author_facet Brückner Martin
author_sort Brückner Martin
title The Place of Objects and Things in the Age of Materiality
title_short The Place of Objects and Things in the Age of Materiality
title_full The Place of Objects and Things in the Age of Materiality
title_fullStr The Place of Objects and Things in the Age of Materiality
title_full_unstemmed The Place of Objects and Things in the Age of Materiality
title_sort place of objects and things in the age of materiality
publisher De Gruyter
series Open Cultural Studies
issn 2451-3474
publishDate 2019-01-01
description This essay reprises the status of objects in relation to critical conversations that favor things and thing studies over other methodologies of material culture studies. Recent discussions have dismissed objects as passive foils that lack in meaning. Glossing the factor of representation, however, these discussions have also glossed over a factor crucial in shaping the way in which the distinction between objects and things is made accessible in theory and practice. Two examples taken from eighteenth-century American literary culture, an anecdote by Benjamin Franklin and a sales ad published by the Pennsylvania Gazette, illustrate how in the process of representation objects become imbued with significance that reaches beyond mere signification and object classification. Once conceived as ‘material signs,’ objects become participants in cognitive environments in which seemingly meaningless symbols foster meaningful engagement with materiality.
topic objects
representation
material culture studies
url https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2019-0042
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