The symmetry-asymmetry continuum of human-thing and human-human relations

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2131237
AutoresMrozowski (0000-0002-0197-2392, autor de correspondencia), Stephen A Mrozowski
Año2017
Volumen24
Número2
Páginas139-142
Fecha de publicación2017-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaArchaeological Dialogues (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1380-2038 • E-ISSN: 1478-2294
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1380203817000150
OpenAlexW2773426120
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas20

There's an old Ry Cooder song - written by Bobby Miller - entitled 'If walls could talk' (not the Celine Dion song), whose refrain is 'Ain't you glad that things don't talk'. Archaeologists clearly wish things could talk because we, more than most, appreciate the power of things and the close relationships that exist between humans and things and their shared histories. I was struck by this one day sitting reading a book in my bedroom. I glanced up, looked around me and realized that everything in that room would be there the day after I died - everything. In fact my things would clearly outlive me, and regardless of what attachment or lack of attachment I might have to any of those things, I would not be the ultimate arbiter of their fate. That would be left to others who for a whole host of reasons might not share the same relationship with these things that I had. Most would probably be discarded while others might be kept. Those choices are just one example of the kinds of emotions and calculations that surround human-thing (HT) and human-human (HH) relations

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Bedroom · Linguistics · Living room · Miller · Physics · The Thing · Anthropology: Ethics, History, Culture · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Computer Science · History · Philosophy · Ecology