How Materials Matter

Design, Innovation and Materiality in the Pacific

Graeme Were (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

212 Seiten

2023
Berghahn Books (Verlag)
978-1-80539-122-7 (ISBN)

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How does design and innovation shape people’s lives in the Pacific? Focusing on plant materials from the region, How Materials Matter reveals ways in which a variety of people – from craftswomen and scientists to architects and politicians – work with materials to transform worlds. Recognizing the fragile and ephemeral nature of plant fibres, this work delves into how the biophysical properties of certain leaves and their aesthetic appearance are utilized to communicate information and manage different forms of relations. It breaks new ground by situating plant materials at the centre of innovation in a region.

Graeme Were is chair and professor of Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Bristol. He has a regional specialism in Papua New Guinea, where he has conducted ongoing ethnographic fieldwork since 2000. His published work includes Lines that Connect (2010) and Extreme Collecting (Berghahn, 2012) co-edited with J.C.H. King.

Acknowledgements

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Materials and Design

PART I: MATERIALS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Chapter 1. On the Materials of Mats

Chapter 2. Materials on the Move

Chapter 3. What’s in a Plant Leaf?

PART II: MATERIALS: DESIGN: TRANSFORMATION

Chapter 4. Of Canoes and Troughs

Chapter 5. Enclosures and Disclosures

PART III: MATERIAL FUTURES

Chapter 6. Returning Cultural Knowledge in a Digital Design Context

Chapter 7. Material Histories and the Changing Nature of Museum Collections

Conclusion: Towards a New Understanding of Materiality

Bibliography

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	21.09.2023
Verlagsort	Oxford
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie ► Volkskunde
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	1-80539-122-4 / 1805391224
ISBN-13	978-1-80539-122-7 / 9781805391227
Zustand	Neuware