In Defense of Things

Archaeology and the Ontology of Objects

Bibliographic Data

ID8072004
AuthorsBjørnar Olsen (corresponding author)
Year2010
Pages203
Publication date2010-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueIn defense of things (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherA division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5040/9798881809195
OpenAlexW3197496206
Open LibraryOL24039669M
ISBN9798881809195
LanguageEN
Citations received24

In much recent thinking, social and cultural realms are thought of as existing prior to—or detached from—things, materiality, and landscape. It is often assumed, for example, that things are entirely 'constructed' by social or cultural perceptions and have no existence in and of themselves. Bjornar Olsen takes a different position. Drawing on a range of theories, especially phenomenology and actor-network-theory, Olsen claims that human life is fully mixed up with things and that humanity and human history emerge from such relationships. Things, moreover, possess unique qualities that are inherent in our cohabitation with them—qualities that help to facilitate existential security and memory of the past. This important work of archaeological theory challenges us to reconsider our ideas about the nature of things, past and present, demonstrating that objects themselves possess a dynamic presence that we must take into account if we are to understand the world we and they inhabit

Business · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life · Actor-network theory · Archaeology · Landscape · Landscapes · Material culture · Methodology · Phenomenology · Philosophy · Sociology

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