Rethinking material cultures of sustainability

Commodity consumption, cultural biographies and following the thing

Bibliographic Data

ID8091429
AuthorsDavid M Evans (0000-0001-7093-5694, Department of Geography University of Sheffield Sheffield UK, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume43
Issue1
Pages110-121
Publication date2017-08-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactions of the Institute of British Geographers (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-2754 • E-ISSN: 1475-5661
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/tran.12206
OpenAlexW2749585188
LanguageEN
Citations received54
References cited49

This paper advances geographical perspectives on household sustainability by extending the range of insights from consumption scholarship that are brought to bear on the issue. Research that links consumption to the dynamics of variously sustainable practices currently dominate, resulting in a particular and partial reading of material culture. I suggest that geographical approaches to the social life of things may yield new insights into materiality and household sustainability. Specifically, I argue that “following the thing” – which is typically focused on commodity chains – could usefully be extended into people's homes. This is not introduced as a way to acknowledge the connections between points in a network, rather, it is positioned as a set of theoretical and methodological resources that can be utilised to explore the movement and placing of things as they move through a critical juncture – in this case the household. To illustrate, I present material drawn from two empirical studies of households in the UK . The first is an ethnographically‐informed study of how food becomes waste; the second is a quantitative survey of laundry habits. Attention is paid to the ways in which the ongoing categorisation and valuation of things shape their trajectories and move them in directions that give rise to (adverse) environmental impacts. To conclude I sketch out an agenda for future studies, consider how a focus on households can yield more comprehensive biographies of things, and address the implications of this analysis both for consumption scholarship and for engagement with sustainability research and policy beyond human geography

Aesthetics · Commodity · Commodity chain · Consumption (sociology · Economic growth · Economics · Environmental ethics · Environmental sociology · Food studies · Materiality (auditing · Scholarship · Sketch · Social science · Sociology · Sustainability · Valuation (finance · Anthropology · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Organic Food and Agriculture