Toward an Ecology of Materials

Both material culture studies and ecological anthropology are concerned with the material conditions of social and cultural life. Yet despite advances in each of these fields that have eroded traditional divisions between humanistic and science-based approaches, their respective practitioners contin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of anthropology 2012-01, Vol.41 (1), p.427-442
Main Author: Ingold, Tim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology
Cultural anthropology
Cultural ecology
Culture
Ecology
Embodiment
Energy
Environmental Factors
Ethnology
Human ecology
Humans
hylomorphism
Material Culture
Material world
materiality
Materials
Mind
nonhumans
Philosophical object
Social Anthropology
Social life
Sources and methods
Specific concepts
Stops
things
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Summary:Both material culture studies and ecological anthropology are concerned with the material conditions of social and cultural life. Yet despite advances in each of these fields that have eroded traditional divisions between humanistic and science-based approaches, their respective practitioners continue to talk past one another in largely incommensurate theoretical languages. This review of recent trends in the study of material culture finds the reasons for this in ( a ) a conception of the material world and the nonhuman that leaves no space for living organisms, ( b ) an emphasis on materiality that prioritizes finished artifacts over the properties of materials, and ( c ) a conflation of things with objects that stops up the flows of energy and circulations of materials on which life depends. To overcome these limitations, the review proposes an ecology of materials that focuses on their enrollment in form-making processes. It concludes with some observations on materials, mind, and time.
ISSN:0084-6570
1545-4290
DOI:10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145920