Material Culture and Consumption
Code
722170097
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Antropologia
Credits
10
Teacher in charge
Sónia Vespeira de Almeida
Weekly hours
3 letivas + 1 tutorial
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
1. Conduct a depth reflection on some of the theoretical proposals that address the issue of material culture in the context of consumer societies.
2. Discuss the issues studied from the presentation of ethnographic studies.
3. Conduct a scientific discussion and ethically grounded on the possible practical applications of knowledge acquired.
Prerequisites
None.
Subject matter
1. In contemporary anthropology the study of objects of consumption - domestic or otherwise - meant, in essence, the displacement of material culture studies - based on works of classical authors as precursors Simmel and Mauss and more recent works by authors such as Certeau, Baudrillard, Bourdieu, Douglas, Appadurai and Miller - from pole production to pole consumption.
2. This displacement entailed a revision, and a consequent complexity, of theories of consumption in capitalist societies, which now include the culturally productive dimension of the act of consuming. The symbolic dimensions of consumption assume this interpretative context, of particular relevance.
3. The understanding of the processes of relationship between people and objects depends on ethnographic observations that take into account the cultural and social contexts in which they take place.
Bibliography
Appadurai, A., 1986, Introduction: Commodities and the Politics of Value, The Social Life of Things Commodities n Cultural Perspective:3-63, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Baudrillard, J., 1972, Pour une critique de léconomie politique du signe, Paris, Gallimard.
Baudrillard, J.,1968, Le système des objets, Paris, Gallimard.
Bourdieu, P., 1979, La distinction, Paris, Minuit.
Corrigan, P. 1997, The Sociology of Consumption, London, Sage
Douglas, M. e Isherwood, B., 1979, The world of goods, New York, Basic Books
Falk, P. e Campbell, C. (orgs.), 1997, The Shopping experience, London-Thousand Oaks-New Delhi, Sage.
Featherstone, M., 1991, Consumer Culture & Postmodernism, London-Thousand Oaks-New Delhi, Sage.
Lury, C., 1997, Consumer Culture, Cambridge, Polity (1ª ed.1996).
Miller, D., 1987, Material culture and mass consumption, Oxford, Blackwell.
Teaching method
1. Classes centered on exposure of teacher, based on the analysis and critical works included in the program.
2. Lessons focused on the presentation made by the students, reading texts set by the teacher.
3. Lessons focused on the presentation by the teacher, case studies, and discussions with students.
Evaluation method
Evaluation: presentation of texts and attendance and participation in discussions (50%). Individual essay with a maximum of 10 pages and using at least six references in the bibliography (50%).