Beyond the 'thingification' of worlds

Archaeology and the New Materialisms

Bibliographic Data

ID2391207
AuthorsEloise Govier (0000-0001-5725-5846, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, UK), Louise Steel (0000-0002-4063-3609, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, UK, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume26
Issue3
Pages298-317
Publication date2021-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13591835211025559
OpenAlexW3110772028
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited71

This article considers the application of the New Materialisms within archaeology, primarily in response to Witmore's influential discussion article: Archaeology and the New Materialisms (2014), specifically his emphasis on things. This, the authors demonstrate, is peripheral to the main thrust of the New Materialisms discourse. They unravel complexities in the terminology and consider the etymological and epistemological framework of concepts such as matter and thing. This leads them to consider some important issues that arise applying Deleuzian assemblages to the archaeological record and the potential of employing Barad's agential realist theory instead. Barad's concept of phenomena moves beyond the notion of things as separate, bounded entities, emphasizing entanglements of matter and illustrates how matter (including humans) co-create the material world. The authors' aim is to demonstrate how engaging with matter rather than things enables us to better make sense of the material world and our place within it

Archaeology · Epistemology · Linguistics · Sociology · Terminology · Anthropology · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Philosophy · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism