"Material Culture, Material Politics and Material Networks:

Making Sense of Consumption"

21 de Outubro de 2016 s 15:00
ICS-ULisboa * Sala Polivalente

What we consume has become a central perhaps

the central feature of modern life. Our economies
live or die by spending, and we increasingly define
ourselves by our possessions. This ever-richer
lifestyle has had a profound impact on our planet.
How have we come to live with so much stuff, and
how has this changed the course of history? This is
the theme of Frank Trentmann's new book EMPIRE
OF THINGS. In this lecture, Trentmann unfolds the
extraordinary story of our modern material world,
from Renaissance Italy and late Ming China to the
present. In particular, he will explore the rise of a
new "material self" that fundamentally changed how
humans relate to things. To understand this
transformation, we need new approaches to the
material culture of consumption which connects
cultural study with material networks and material
politics. With an eye to the future, he will ask about
new potential methods and the kinds of materials,
questions and sources that might guide the next
generation of researchers.