Haidy Geismar, UCL Anthropology My Life With Things: The Consumer Diaries by Elizabeth Chin, 2016. Duke University Press. My Life with Things is an engaging, quirky, auto-ethnography detailing key moments of Elizabeth Chin’s life, focusing especially on her passionate relationship with commodities and processes of consumption (from shopping in thrift stores and onContinue Reading

Call for Papers: Foolish things, clever stuff? The material side of nursing and care. 18th– 20th January 2017, Heidelberg Nursing is more than an interpersonal rapport in which individuals are connected to one another in a special relationship. In the course of the organisation of nursing and care – whetherContinue Reading

  A one-day workshop ​Wednesday 6 May 2015 9:30 am – 4 pm Venue: Daryll Forde Seminar Room Department of Anthropology University College London 14 Taviton, London WC1H 0BW   Keynote speakers: Christopher Pinney (University College London) Roger Sansi-Roca (Goldsmiths)   Organizers: Haidy Geismar Elena Magdalena Craciun    The relationshipContinue Reading

Since its formation in 1994, the Material Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association (ASA) has bridged the gap between university-based and museum-based scholars to promote the study of material culture in American Studies programs. To celebrate its twentieth birthday, the Caucus sponsored a workshop on Friday November 7, 2014, duringContinue Reading

The Material Culture Caucus (MCC) of the American Studies Association (ASA) wishes to encourage participation in the 2015 Annual Meeting: “The (Re)production of Misery and the Ways of Resistance,” October 8-11, 2015, Toronto, Canada. To read the conference Call for Papers please visit the ASA website. Areas of interest related toContinue Reading

When Philae phoned home to Earth a couple of weeks ago, the world cheered. The European Space Agency (ESA) had achieved an amazing first in space exploration – landing a robotic lander on a comet! A comet! However, the cheers became somewhat subdued within hours of the landing, all becauseContinue Reading

Abstracts due 7 January 2015 for the interdisciplinary conference, Domestic Devotions in the Early Modern World, 1400-1800 to be held 9-11 July 2015 at the University of Cambridge. Across faiths and regions and throughout the world, the home was a centre for devotion in the early modern period. Holy books, prayer mats, candlesticks,Continue Reading