Course content
The course is an individual field study with the aim of giving deeper insight into the significance of materiality within a specific field in today’s society. Virtually all social processes involve active or indirect relations to things and material objects. What are the roles of materialities in for example exhibitions, art and literature, ritual and religious contexts, technical processes, and in the everyday? The course aims to raise questions how people and the material world interact as well as unintentional and hidden effects which materialities may have in different social and cultural contexts.
The assigned task is to carry out an ‘ethnographic’ study along the lines of so-called Actor Network Theory (ANT). This kind of study builds primarily on observations and analyses of what actually happens and how activities take place in the selected area. These can then be contrasted with interviews and written material to further illustrate the interplay of the material and the human.
The course will begin with lectures and seminars discussing the central methods before the field study begins.
Learning outcomes
For a grade pass on the course, students should be able to:
- give an account of the role of materiality in today’s society and explain suitable analytical methods
- identify appropriate contexts in which a material perspective can be applied, plus themselves carry out a material analysis of a social activity
Practical information
The course requires completion of all assignments, including the written assignments and questions in advance of each course session.
The course is examined through oral presentation and a written account of the study consisting of a research-oriented report of about 3000 words.
Teaching activities include lectures and seminars.
Period: Second half of the autumn semester 2018, October–December. First meeting: November 12.
Language of instruction: TBA
Course director: docent Fredrik Fahlander
Theme coordinator: Alison Klevnäs
Course title in Swedish: Fältstudie: Det materiella i samhället
The course is offered by the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Aesthetics
The course is part of the theme Människa och materialitet / Materiality and the Human
