Material Culture

Home / Undergraduate Studies / Courses / E semester / Material Culture

Ε/MCR512 Material Culture

Professor: Cleo GOUGOULIS

Material Culture constitutes one of the most innovative fields of study   in the social sciences and the humanities both with regard to its contribution to the development of cutting edge social theory and the creation of novel analytical and methodological tools for understanding the importance of things in everyday life. The course outlines the various theoretical approaches to material culture by the social sciences and the humanities with an emphasis on anthropological and folklorist approaches from the 19th century to the present. A central concern of the course is the exploration of the ways in which the material world is linked to the production, reproduction and challenging of extant relations of power  in the context of marxist, structuralist, poststructuralist and phenomenological theories implemented in ethnographies of space and landscape, the house, museums and technology. Further emphasis is laid on the analysis of contemporary commodities as cultural objects and the importance of methodological approaches, such as the cultural biography of things and multi-sited ethnography, in the context of theoretical approaches to globalization.

The course aims to highlight the various ways in which people are enmeshed in the material world. It further aims to shed light on the contribution of things to the development of social relationships, values and identities. Students will also become familiar with the management, documentation and critical analysis of ethnographic museum collections and exhibitions.

Companions

  1. Βιβλίο [22769369]: Υλικός πολιτισμός: η ανθρωπολογία στη χώρα των πραγμάτων, Γιαλούρη Ελεάνα (επιμέλεια) Λεπτομέρειες
  2. Βιβλίο [41958332]: Υλικός πολιτισμός: Θεωρία, μεθοδολογία, αξιοποίηση, Οικονόμου Ανδρομάχη Λεπτομέρειες

 

 

Skip to content