Miller The Comfort of Things

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7456-5536-9
Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 316 Seiten, E-Book

What do we know about ordinary people in our towns and cities,about what really matters to them and how they organize their livestoday? This book visits an ordinary street and looks into thirtyhouseholds. It reveals the aspirations and frustrations, thetragedies and accomplishments that are played out behind the doors.It focuses on the things that matter to these people, which quiteoften turn out to be material things - their house, the dog,their music, the Christmas decorations. These are the means bywhich they express who they have become, and relationships toobjects turn out to be central to their relationships with otherpeople - children, lovers, brothers and friends.
If this is a typical street in a modern city like London, thenwhat kind of society is this? It's not a community, nor aneighbourhood, nor is it a collection of isolated individuals. Itisn't dominated by the family. We assume that social life iscorrupted by materialism, made superficial and individualistic by asurfeit of consumer goods, but this is misleading. If the streetisn't any of these things, then what is it?
This brilliant and revealing portrayal of a street in modernLondon, written by one the most prominent anthropologists, showshow much is to be gained when we stop lamenting what we think weused to be and focus instead on what we are now becoming. Itreveals the forms by which ordinary people make sense of theirlives, and the ways in which objects become our companions in thedaily struggle to make life meaningful.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Miller, Daniel

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements.
Prologue.
Portrait 1 Empty.
Portrait 2 Full.
Portrait 3 A Porous Vessel.
Portrait 4 Starry Green Plastic Ducks.
Portrait 5 Learning Love.
Portrait 6 The Aboriginal Laptop.
Portrait 7 Home and Homeland.
Portrait 8 Tattoo.
Portrait 9 Haunted.
Portrait 10 Talk to the Dog.
Portrait 11 Tales from the Publicans.
Portrait 12 Making a Living.
Portrait 13 McDonald's Truly Happy Meals.
Portrait 14 The Exhibitionist.
Portrait 15 Re-Birth.
Portrait 16 Strength of Character.
Portrait 17 Heroin.
Portrait 18 Shi.
Portrait 19 Brazil 2 England 2.
Portrait 20 A Thousand Places to See before You Die.
Portrait 21 Rosebud.
Portrait 22 The Orientalist.
Portrait 23 Sepia.
Portrait 24 An Unscripted Life.
Portrait 25 Oh Sod It!.
Portrait 26 José and José's Wife.
Portrait 27 Wrestling.
Portrait 28 The Carpenter.
Portrait 29 Things That Bright Up the Place.
Portrait 30 Home Truths.
Epilogue: If This is Modern Life - Then What is That?.
Appendix: The Study

Über Autor(innen)

Daniel Miller is Professor of Material Culture at University College London.