Via The Institute of Making Zoe Laughlin of UCL’s Institute of Making has a new podcast, Things That Make Us. Following the model of Desert Island Discs, each week, Laughlin interviews someone asking them to chose five things that they feel have shaped and moulded their lives and practice. The first two weeksContinue Reading
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
In a new series of postings, we draw two research projects on miniatures together in dialogue: Miniatures Matter Jonathan Walz Jonathan Walz is an anthropologist who practices archaeology in eastern Africa and the western Indian Ocean. This contribution arises from his long-term interest in representations of archaeology and Africa andContinue Reading
Adam Drazin, UCL Anthropology How, when and why do people start to see something as”broken”? Do objects around the home just have two states, broken and working, or are there many other kinds of states they can be in? Clearly, the significance of many domestic objects is in relation toContinue 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
An event with Professor Anthony Shelton Thursday 21 May 2015, 6pm, Room G01, School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD Between the 1920s-1950s, rural popular art became an important part of the government-sponsored re-creation of Portuguese national identity and history. Books and articles wereContinue 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