Material Culture and Social Archaeology

Jennifer Caraberis

A response to Discussion Week 2: Materiality: ethnographies of material culture

Posted at Feb 11/2007 10:32PM

In Hodder’s article The Social in Archaeological Theory: An Historical and Contemporary Perspective, he argues “that material culture is not simply reflective of social practice, but rather constitutive of it” and that “material culture has a meaning which goes beyond the physical properties of an object, and derives from the network of social entanglements and strategies within which the object is embroiled.” I believe his arguments are true. First, material culture is the physical objects created by a culture, this includes buildings, tools, and other artifacts created by the member of a society. It would seem that these objects and artifacts are products of a culture, but they are essential to that culture not just a product of it.

An example of material culture being more than just a product of a culture, are the great pyramids of Egypt. The pyramids were of great importance to the afterlife of deceased Kings of Egypt. They were not just building monuments but a pathway from the real world to the heavens. Because of there belief in the after life, a building had to be built to protect the body while on its journey to the afterlife. The pyramid was essential to the death process. Not merely just a product of the cultures ability to build such a massive structure.

Another reason why material culture is essential to a culture is because it is actively involved in social processes. Objects, tools, and buildings are used to manipulate the worlds of people. This is mostly true through an object’s agency. Objects receive their modes of agency through human’s interaction with it. Transforming the object from more than just an object, but a meaning, a symbol, a source of power. Once an object or space is given specific agency it is passed down from generation to generation acquire more agency and meaning as well as transforming and taking different paths. Objects get entangled through social networks mostly through a process of gift giving, especially through family.

For example, every family reunion a photo of my late grandfather is passed from family to family. The picture represents the link for how we are all connected and a family. But the photo is more than a photo, it is good luck. We truly believe that whoever has the photo in there possession will receive good luck. From weddings, children, jobs, getting into colleges, anything. It has become such a tradition and such power, that the family who has the picture must show that the photo was represented at all family occasions such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and graduations. This is my example how objects acquire agency and power through generations as well as through social networks.

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