Materiality of Nothing - Exploring Our Everyday Relationships With Objects Absent and Present

The Materiality of Nothing explores the invisible, intangible and transient materials and objects of everyday life and the relationships we have with them. Drawing on over 15 years of original, empirical research, it builds on growing research on the everyday, and unites the established field of material culture and materiality with emerging sociological studies exploring notions of nothing and the unmarked. The chapters cover topics such as lost property, museum curation, plastic microfibres, thrift, music and even hair, illuminating how invisible and intangible materials conjure memories, meanings and identities, inextricably binding us to other people, places and things. In turn, the book also engages with issues of sustainability and consumption, raising questions regarding society's increasing need for material accumulation and posing some alternatives.

List of contents

1 Introducing material affinities and the potency of connections
2 Object loss and material hauntings
3 Object Journeys 1: starting at ‘the end’
4 Object Journeys 2: acquiring, circulating, connecting
5 Layers and leaking: the invisibility of materials
6 Preservation and decay: exploring alternative accumulation
7 Rethinking materiality for a more sustainable society
Bibliography

About the author

Helen Holmes is a Lecturer in Sociology based in the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester, UK, and a member of the Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives.

Summary

The Materiality of Nothing explores the invisible, intangible and transient materials and objects of everyday life and the relationships we have with them.

Product details

• Authors: Helen Holmes, Helen (King''s College London Holmes, Holmes Helen
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.07.2023
• EAN: 9780367655570
• ISBN: 978-0-367-65557-0
• No. of pages: 150
• Series: Materializing Culture
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); Sociology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Geography, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, Sociology: customs & traditions, Society & culture: general, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social and cultural anthropology, Society and culture: general, Human Geography