Wild Things

The Material Culture of Everyday Life

Judy Attfield, Daniel Miller

$160

Hardback

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English

Bloomsbury Visual Arts
17 September 2020

Product design; Material culture; Social & cultural anthropology

Series: Radical Thinkers in Design

What do things mean? What does the life of everyday objects reveal about people and their material worlds? Has the quest for ‘the real thing’ become so important because the high-tech world of total virtuality threatens to engulf us?

This pioneering book bridges design theory and anthropology to offer a new and challenging way of understanding the changing meanings of contemporary human-object relations. The act of consumption is only the starting point of object’s “lives”. Thereafter they are transformed and invested with new meanings and associations that reflect and assert who we are. Defining designed things as “things with attitude” differentiates the highly visible fashionable object from ordinary aretefacts that are too easily taken for granted.

Through case studies ranging from reproduction furniture to fashion and textiles to ‘clutter’, the author traces the connection between objects and authenticity, ephemerality and self-identity. Beyond this, she shows the materiality of the everyday in terms of space, time and the body and suggests a transition with the passing of time from embodiment to disembodiment.

By: Judy Attfield
Introduction by: Daniel Miller
Imprint: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 558g
ISBN: 9781350072299
ISBN 10: 135007229X
Series: Radical Thinkers in Design
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 17 September 2020
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

List of illustrations Preface to the original edition Preface to the current edition by Claudia Marina Introduction: The material culture of everyday life Part I: Things 1. The meaning of design: Things with attitude 2. The meaning of things: Design in the lower case 3. Things and the dynamics of social change Part II: Themes 4. Continuity: Authenticity and the paradoxical nature of reproduction 5. Change: The ephemeral materiality of identity 6. Containment: The ecology of personal possessions Part III: Contexts 7. Space: Where things take place 8. Time: bringing things to life 9. The body: The threshold between nature and culture Conclusion Afterword by Jo Turney Bibliography Index

Judy Attfield was Senior Lecturer in History and Design at the University of Southampton, UK. A pioneer of the field of material culture studies, she was a member of the editorial board of the journal 'Home Cultures'.

Reviews for Wild Things: The Material Culture of Everyday Life

It is wonderful to see a reprint of this seminal wide-ranging, thought-provoking book that, challenges us to consider, and then re-consider, how we think about things, and write about them too. I read the book in early draft form and often return to it; sometimes to think through things raised in it, at others for inspiration, or to remember her pioneering contributions to contemporary material culture studies and reflect upon her enormous impact upon generations of students and scholars across a range of disciplines. A designer before she turned to design history and discovered a passion for anthropology and critical theory, as well as for history from below her lively intellect knew no disciplinary boundaries. In Wild Things Judy's love of objects and people, ideas, herstories/histories, and grappling with theory, is everywhere apparent. Enjoy the journey you take with her. * Pat Kirkham, Professor of Design History at Kingston University, London, UK *