Materiality (Anthropology)

Since the inception of human civilization, money has stood not merely as a medium of exchange, but as a cornerstone of social organization, authority, and trust. From the barter systems of early societies to the complex algorithms underpinning digital currencies, the journey of money is often celebrated as a linear narrative of progress. Yet, in The Current Version of Money and the Little Patches to It, this simplistic narrative is challenged. The paper argues that rather than representing an unbroken arc of innovation, the evolution of money is, in truth, a fragmented story — a series of desperate patches stitched onto a fraying fabric, masking the deeper structural inadequacies that modern economies can no longer ignore.

Money began as a spontaneous human creation, an ingenious tool devised to overcome the inefficiencies of barter. Its earliest incarnations — shells, livestock, metal coins — were physical, tangible, and deeply embedded in cultural rituals and mutual recognition. Over time, however, the physicality of money gave way to abstractions: promissory notes, fiat currency, credit systems. Each abstraction introduced new layers of complexity and, with them, new vulnerabilities. Trust, once grounded in communal relationships, was transferred first to sovereigns, then to banking institutions, and finally to nebulous networks of digital ledgers and cryptographic proofs. What began as a system of facilitation increasingly morphed into a system of domination and alienation.

Throughout this transformation, monetary systems have been repeatedly patched rather than fundamentally reengineered. When precious metal standards collapsed under the strain of economic expansion, the gold standard was introduced. When the gold standard itself faltered, Bretton Woods attempted to stabilize international exchange. When Bretton Woods collapsed, floating exchange rates emerged as an unplanned, chaotic norm. Each step was not a product of foresight or rational design, but of necessity — a desperate attempt to prevent systemic collapse without addressing root causes. Modern central banking, the establishment of regulatory frameworks, the invention of derivatives and credit default swaps: all are symptomatic of a global system continually firefighting its own inadequacies.

This paper provocatively contends that the current global monetary system is akin to an ancient ship kept afloat not by sturdy construction but by a patchwork of hastily applied repairs, leaking from every seam. It explores how contemporary finance, reliant on ever-increasing layers of complexity, actually undermines its own purported goals of stability, trust, and universality. Sovereign debt crises, hyperinflation in emerging markets, the endemic fragility of "too big to fail" institutions, and the rise of asset bubbles reveal that the monetary architecture is less a castle built on solid ground than a house of cards trembling in the wind.

The notion of money as a "neutral veil" over real economic activity — an idea perpetuated by classical economists — is thoroughly dismantled in this work. Instead, money is shown to be a dynamic, political artifact: it shapes behavior, structures power, and embodies ideology. The current version of money privileges debt-creation over value-creation, speculation over production, and accumulation over circulation. Central banks print unprecedented sums to stabilize markets, yet wealth inequality skyrockets; financial innovations claim efficiency, yet systemic risks multiply; digital currencies promise democratization, yet increasingly resemble speculative casinos rather than foundational monetary reforms.

Cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (DeFi) are addressed not as revolutionary departures from the existing system, but as symptomatic expressions of the same fundamental malaise. Bitcoin, Ethereum, stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) all replicate, to varying degrees, the underlying assumptions of scarcity, competition, and commodification that have plagued traditional money. Their emergence is less a rupture and more an extension of the logic of patches — another attempt to solve for trust, efficiency, and sovereignty without a radical reexamination of the very purpose of money itself.

The paper critiques the mythology surrounding blockchain technologies, arguing that the fetishization of decentralization often obscures the centralization of real economic power and the environmental costs of proof-of-work systems. Moreover, it challenges the facile narrative that simply transferring monetary systems to digital platforms will resolve issues of inequality, financial exclusion, or systemic risk. Without a redefinition of money’s function — from a tool of hoarding and speculation to a medium of shared prosperity and sustainable development — such technological innovations are doomed to become just another set of patches on an already overburdened system.

Drawing on historical case studies, contemporary financial data, and philosophical insights, The Current Version of Money and the Little Patches to It presents a stark warning: the global economy teeters on the brink not because we lack sophisticated tools, but because we refuse to ask fundamental questions. What is money for? Who controls it? Who benefits from its design? Can a tool designed to serve empires and monopolists be repurposed to empower communities and individuals? Or must we abandon it entirely and imagine new forms of collective value altogether?

The work concludes by calling for a radical, interdisciplinary reimagining of money. It proposes that the next evolution of money must be conscious, democratic, and humane. Future monetary systems must prioritize ecological balance, equitable distribution, and genuine human flourishing over mere transactional efficiency. This will require not merely technological innovation but moral and philosophical courage — a willingness to tear off the patches and stitch a new fabric from entirely different threads.

In sum, The Current Version of Money and the Little Patches to It is both a lament and a call to arms. It laments the missed opportunities and compounded errors of past generations, but it also challenges readers — economists, technologists, policymakers, and citizens — to imagine and build a future where money serves humanity, rather than enslaves it.

Los vasos y ollas trípodes con forma globular o piriforme de la zona Aztatlán de sinaloa y Nayarit son objetos constantes dentro de los trabajos arqueológicos y muy presentes en las colecciones de museos y otras instituciones. Su análisis desde una perspectiva arqueosemiótica nos permite identificar sus particularidades desde la identificación de la cantidad identifcada para cad región, su forma particular, sus colores, su composición, su iconografía, su contexto y los significados que todos estos elementos representan.

At a first level, the papers in this theme issue provide a contribution to the diversity and vitality of current waste scholarship. At another level they are a means to moving waste scholarship to a fuller engagement with materiality. i Our starting point here is a paradox. Waste is intrinsically, profoundly, a matter of materiality and yet -notwithstanding a sustained engagement with materiality in certain areas of the social sciences of late -much of what is most readily identified as waste research remains staunchly immaterial. Just as much as societies have sought to distance

This chapter explores the historical concept of performative language and how it has evolved within linguistic anthropological thought up to the modern day. The discussion begins with J. L. Austin's understanding of the performative utterance in the 1960s and traces its conceptual lineage into Judith Butler's understanding of performativity in the 1990s. It then examines how Butler's performativity theory has been taken up by linguistic anthropologists in thinking about performative language, especially scholars of gender, race, and class, largely in conjunction with Silverstein's work on indexicality and indexical performance.

En este capítulo proponemos analizar -desde una posición interesada por la materialidad- las experiencias asociadas al proceso que involucró la muerte en el marco de la tradición indígena Selk´nam de Tierra del Fuego. Específicamente, intentamos aproximarnos a las formas en que las diversas instancias que conformaron dicho proceso pusieron en juego "modos somáticos de atención" culturalmente específicos, que entrelazaron intercorporalmente -mediante la sensorialidad y la afectividad- a los moribundos-fallecidos y a los circunstantes-supérstites en contextos donde también se hicieron co-presentes otros elementos materiales. Para ello analizamos un conjunto de referencias brindadas por Martín Gusinde en el desarrollo de su labor etnográfica entre los Selk´nam. Los resultados obtenidos nos permiten reflexionar sobre los sentidos que los indígenas pudieron asociar a la materialidad de la muerte, y a la memoria y el olvido de los difuntos.

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In this chapter, we examine the experiences surrounding death within the indigenous Selk'nam tradition of Tierra del Fuego, adopting a perspective that emphasizes materiality. Specifically, we explore how different stages of this process engaged culturally specific somatic modes of attention, interweaving the dying and deceased with the bystanders and survivors through sensory and affective dimensions. These interactions unfolded in contexts where material elements were also co-present and played an active role. To this end, we analyze references provided by Martín Gusinde in his ethnographic work among the Selk'nam. Our findings offer insights into the meanings the Selk'nam may have attributed to the materiality of death, as well as to the memory and forgetting of the deceased.

The author worked as a volunteer archaeological conservation officer with the then Ministry of Citizenship and Culture during the 1980s. There have been many, mostly positive, changes since that time. However one aspect which held promise, having Native involvement in the archaeological research (even pioneer historic sites). However as things emerged, there was pressure to place unqualified individual into roles where their involvement was not necessarily motivated by the love of the role - but simply a way to earn cash for standing around (being present). Although some of the Archaeological Monitors were better trained and were on track for academic work in the field, there were impediments. One of the biggest problem was payment for services rendered. The Monitors could literally shut down an operation for reasons of their own. In addition, due to factionalism, for example at Six Nations of the Grand River, the Monitors hired via the Elected Council (often who received at least some training) were being challenged by individuals from the Hereditary Council whose knowledge may not have been up to par, but they insisted that they were the proper individuals to be present. Needless to say, this created considerable tension and an unpleasant work environment. The Monitors assigned by the Hereditary Council could on a whim shut down all the work and the professional archaeologists would need to play referee. This is an example of a well intentioned effort that did not work out in practice.

The article analyses the special understanding of agency in framework of social topology by contemporary English sociologist John Law. Author interprets social topology as an original version of actor-network theory (ANT), where theoretical focus shifts toward the sociology of space. Agency, thereby, appears here as a capacity of the object to take a part in construction of multiple forms of spatiality.

Since the early 2000s, the material culture of DIY in socialist societies has attracted increasing scholarly attention. It has often been examined through the lens of consumption – as a response to scarcity in planned economies, as a form of resistance to state power, or as a means of subject formation. While acknowledging and building on the role of DIY material culture in the formation of subjectivities, I argue against the consumption framework. Drawing on anthropological theories of time, I contend that the analytical language of consumption studies is often misleading because it denies DIY material practices coevalness—a place in the shared present – and traps our thinking within the moral and analytical binaries of the Cold War. As an alternative, I adopt Warnier’s concept of mise en objet to reconceptualise the relationship between subjects, material environments, and dominant socio-economic and political structures outside existing temporal hierarchies. This framework shifts the focus from consumption to the culturally specific ways in which individuals engage with materialities, thereby reframing DIY practices as sites of alternative modernity rather than an anachronistic practice. This perspective challenges teleological narratives of progress and calls for new economic imaginaries.

Earlier objects are frequently identified in later contexts, though rarely form the focus of discussion. This paper presents 34 sites where earlier Bronze Age metalwork has been found in later Bronze Age contexts in southern Britain, including hoards and nonhoard contexts. These 'out-of-time' objects follow complex trajectories and can inform us about the potential ways past societies conceived their own pasts, especially when contextualized in broader integrated landscapes. Out-of-time objects might be deposited singly or within hoards to reinforce community boundaries and legitimize links with past communities. The form, wear and treatment of these objects pre-deposition (e.g. curation and/or deformation) as well as the places in which they were buried represent indicators of prehistoric processes of commemoration and/or forgetting.

The historiographical representation of Medieval India as a dark, stagnant and stationary has historically tarnished the image of an living civilization of being in the arms of Morpheus by creating a perception of legends and myths by its orientalist certitude. In spite of attempts to deconstruct such propositions in recent decades by scholars many secondary sources on Medieval Indian history largely remain to be unchanged. The geo-cultural permeation of “Deccan” as a unified cultural identity encompassing varieties of similarities through ideas and institutions explored under the Hoyasala-Kakatiya-Yadava periods, i.e. from 1006–1346, 1083–1323 and 1187–1317 from Dwarasamudra to Orugallu to Devagiri respectively. The primary aim and objective of this chapter is to highlight the many variables that synchronized the distinctive regional societies in the medieval history of India as history in transition and a history of transition. Deccan witnessed a period of progressive change from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries in contrast to a historiographical moribund entity. The Hoyasala-Kakatiya-Yadava evolved political systems and networks, extended agrarian settlements and commercial activities, constructed numerous sites and catered religious institutions. The growth of the regional societies is the most significant and outstanding feature of the Medieval Indian world which commands prominent recognition. 800–1400 AD expressed the expansion in the territorial spread of “historic” society in India, a civilizational legacy in the form of monumental structures and exemplary written documents, it changed the course and differentiated in forms propelling agrarian expansion and demographic increase. The diverse configurations synthesized local societies and their culture into a pan-Indic identity.

An archaeological reconnaissance and survey with a site census was carried out in the Neem ka Thana tehsil Rajasthan using the village-to-village survey method in the years 2020-2022. The study aimed to revisit the already documented sites, identify and document new sites, and salvage cultural material from destroyed or damaged sites due to increasing agricultural and development activities. Neem ka Thana tehsil has been previously explored and these explorations have reported archaeological sites affiliated to the Palaeolithic, Chalcolithic, Early Historic, Historic, and Medieval periods, with the majority of sites (88) belonging to the Chalcolithic Ganeshwar-Jodhpura Culture Complex (GJCC). This heavy concentration of sites in such a small geographical area raises questions about the distribution pattern and nature of the sites. The current study discusses the results of the survey along with new insights about the cultural affiliations of both, the newly discovered and previously reported sites and contributes to the existing literature by raising questions on the nature and identity of the sites reported and recommends further study. Several new ideas with regard to the nature of the archaeological material in the region such as possible association with the Rangmahal Culture and iron ore are also discussed. The study also contributes to the conversation on methodology during the process of exploration and salvage archaeology.

The highest prize of the architectural world was awarded to Swiss architect Peter Zumthor in 2009. His phenomenological approach, paying special attention to natural landscapes and local building traditions, is at odds with the dominant contemporary architectural design. He has the merit of raising the thorny question of what architecture means at a time of widespread urban living and the crisis of place.

En este trabajo, nos proponemos problematizar cómo las estelas en Abidos, desde su textualidad y materialidad, se constituyeron en trasmisoras y evocadoras de recuerdo conformando una memoria colectiva de participación de individuos vivos y difuntos durante los rituales osiríacos y jugando un rol determinante en la configuración del paisaje funerario en Abidos.
Las estelas de Abidos, que se datan mayoritariamente entre los comienzos del Reino Medio y finales del Reino Nuevo, constituyen uno de los objetos más significativos para estudiar e interpretar el culto y los rituales del antiguo Egipto en torno a la divinidad de Osiris, el dios de los muertos y el Más Allá (Smith 2017). Si bien la conceptualización de las estelas es difusa por lo que actualmente se encuentra en discusión (Calomino y Salem 2019), es indudable el valor que representan para la reconstrucción de los Misterios de Osiris (al respecto véase, Lavier 1989; Leahy 1989; Rosell 2018) y la capacidad performativa que conllevan a partir de su materialidad (sensu Miller 2005) (Calomino y Salem 2019), momento en el que se ritualizaba la narración mítica de la muerte y resurrección del dios. La celebración de los Misterios de Osiris tuvo como epicentro Abidos, ciudad que desde época predinástica ocupó una función preponderante en la organización política y religiosa en Egipto. Allí tuvo su origen la realeza egipcia y en su cementerio de ‘Umm el-Qa‘ab fueron enterrados los reyes de las primeras dinastías (Seidlmeyer 2007: 328), entre ellos el segundo o el tercer faraón de la dinastía I, Djer (Leprohon 2013: 25). Probablemente, fue su tumba la que durante la dinastía XII (1939-1760 a.C.) se identificara con el lugar de enterramiento de Osiris (von Beckerath 1975: 36; Lavier 1989: 5; Leahy 1989: 55-57). Es a partir de este momento en que Abidos (al respectom, véase O’Connor 2009; Snape 2011) se convirtió en un centro de peregrinación (Yoyotte 1960) a lo largo de la “terraza del dios” (Simpson 1974; Yayamotto 2015b). Incluso, el viaje a Abidos fue uno de los temas centrales dentro de las representaciones funerarias en Tebas y Saqqara. Una de las funcionalidades de las estelas, interpretada desde su textualidad, se vincula primordialmente con los Misterios de Osiris, pues eran erigidas por quienes habían participado en ellos con la finalidad
de lograr una identificación total con la divinidad (Lavier 1989). Es decir, las estelas permitían que los individuos allí mencionados siguieran participando en los Misterios de Osiris y esto admitía una completa asimilación con el dios, es decir, el cumplimiento de los beneficios emanados por Osiris: la eterna regeneración del difunto para lograr su justificación (Lavier 1989; Bard 2008; Yamamotto 2015a). Por lo tanto, la estela consentía a los individuos, que en vida habían sido parte en los Misterios de Osiris, continuar participando luego de su muerte, lo mismo para aquellos que no habían logrado peregrinar en vida, pero si su nombre había sido colocado en alguna estela por algún familiar. En palabras de Lavier (1989), lo que las estelas representan es una verdadera iniciación post mortem de los individuos en ellas representados, que resulta de su llamado/vocación exclusivamente funeraria en Abidos. Es decir, la justificación del individuo difunto representado o mencionado en la estela se efectivizaba durante los Misterios de Osiris a partir de su evocación y recuerdo, la permanencia en la memoria cultural (Assmann 2005) se lograba justamente por permanecer sus estelas ubicadas en el paisaje funerario abideano donde se ejecutaba el ritual. Por lo tanto, las estelas no son únicamente una marca de presencia y participación del individuo durante los Misterios de Osiris (Simpson 1974), sino que estas son transmisoras y creadoras de memoria a partir de su textualidad y materialidad. Pues, a través de las estelas y las prácticas relacionadas con las mismas es que los individuos adquieren conciencia acerca de su identidad tanto en el nivel individual (por ejemplo, los beneficios de ser justificados por el dios), como en el colectivo (por ejemplo, las creencias sobre el mito osiríaco).
Esta memoria es colectiva y comunicativa en los términos propuestos por Halbwachs (2011), pues comunica y evoca la participación del individuo en marcos sociales (Halbwachs 2004) que son creados
culturalmente. Es, por ello, que las estelas de Abidos son objetos que expresan y recrean representaciones simbólicas que contribuyen a la formación de memoria, entendida como relato o narración sobre la génesis y las identidades de estos grupos. La memoria era creada en las mismas prácticas desarrolladas en los espacios en que las estelas se encontraban. De tal modo, es posible pensar que habría sido vivida y aprehendida en forma particular en cada momento, pero siempre remitiendo a las ideas prístinas expresadas en el registro epigráfico y en las prácticas asociadas.
Al mismo tiempo, las estelas favorecen a la creación y continuación de un paisaje funerario, con diferentes lógicas de apropiación y diagramación del espacio donde era llevado adelante el ritual. A propósito, el paisaje puede entenderse como “el producto sociocultural creado por la objetivación, sobre el medio y en términos espaciales, de la acción social tanto de carácter material como imaginario” (Criado Boado 1999: 5). Por ello, asumimos que las actividades que tienen lugar en el espacio están
organizadas de forma coherente con la representación ideal del mundo, que tiene el grupo social que las realiza. Es en el sistema de representaciones, ritos y cultos donde se incluye la forma de concebir la naturaleza, el espacio, la temporalidad y las relaciones entre los seres humanos y el ambiente (Criado Boado 1999). Esto se manifiesta en productos materiales y concuerda con la afirmación de que las prácticas funerarias, en tanto paisaje, representan, visibilizan y reflejan el ambiente socioeconómico de las comunidades que las crearon y vivieron. La memoria recreada y transmitida en las estelas habilita a la selección y diagramación de Abidos como epicentro religioso y funerario, desde la evocación del recuerdo de que allí fue construida la tumba del dios Osiris, hasta la idea de que las estelas permiten a los individuos participar en la celebración de los Misterios tan solo con su evocación. En este sentido, el objeto estela mantiene y renueva memorias a partir de su textualidad, materialidad y de las prácticas en ese conjunto de relaciones entre objetos  y personas en un lugar y tiempo específicos, que entendemos como paisaje, Abidos.

En el marco de estas jornadas, que invitan a la reflexión sobre el uso e interpretación de fuentes documentales y materiales en la construcción de discursos sobre las sociedades antiguas desde puntos de vista de los estudios poscoloniales/decoloniales, la presente conferencia busca reflexionar sobre los conceptos de materialidad, textualidad, contexto y arte, e incita a pensar su función en el pasado y el presente. De este modo, en la presente conferencia se abordan diversos temas, que se encuentran interconectados, principalmente relacionados con: a. las tradiciones y continuidades/discrepancias disciplinarias, a partir de la recopilación de conceptos tales como materialidad, material, soporte, contexto, epigrafía, entre otros; b. los aspectos tecnológicos como parte inherente de la imagen y del texto; c. el caso del antiguo Egipto como motivo para debates actuales en relación con los discursos sobre la construcción del pasado y el presente, de los objetos y las comunidades. Con esta presentación se buscar recalcar la necesidad de mantener una mirada crítica y amplia sobre el estudio de las sociedades del pasado, alejada de todo actualismo, de la implementación de analogías directas y de enfoques etnocentristas disciplinarmente centrados en tradicionalismos obsoletos.

Souvenirs are objects of desire often consumed when traveling. In museum stores, one finds what is called "museum souvenir"-which reproduces, in some way, works of art and other museum objects. In this sense, the link between the consumption of museum souvenirs and the relationship between tourists and objects on display was investigated. The research aimed to analyze the consumption of this type of souvenir in museum stores, in theoretical dialogue with the theme of souvenirs and their consumption in tourism, and with the concepts of "aestheticization" (Lipovetsky; Serroy, 2015)-appropriation of beauty as a consumer good-, and "technical reproducibility" (Benjamin)-the substitution of the unique existence of the work by a serial existence. It is thus clear that subjects are not separated from their materialities (Miller, 2013) and that souvenirs are part of the universe of material things that make up the materialities of tourism. The ethnographic-based field research took place in museums in the city of Rio de Janeiro, adopting systematic observation and interviews. Results point to the existence of a symbolic dimension in the relationship between the consumption of museum souvenirs and the exhibition visited, as they are connected to the experience and aesthetic fruition of tourists with works on display. Adopting souvenirs as an object of study from this perspective has enabled the expansion of analyses on their consumption by tourists, identifying gaps of scientific interest and projecting relevance to the research. Other public profiles interested in souvenirs of different types and in consuming them for different purposes and in different places cannot be ignored. However, this qualitative research identified tourists who clearly demonstrated a desire to consume these categories of museum souvenirs. The approach gives the article an innovative character and possibilities for theoretical and methodological contributions to future studies, such as theoretical dialogues with authors from the field of anthropology, with the existing theory on souvenirs and their consumption in tourism. Furthermore, it stands out from the most recurrent perspectives found in the literature on the subject in the area of tourism, as it seeks to deepen the understanding of the production of meanings.

The author focuses on a question pursued upon numerous occasions and pertaining to photography as an
instrument of communication and so-called visual illiteracy. The topic of such reflections turned out to be a
specific genre of this medium – the instant camera (polaroid), comprehended not only as a visual
communiqué but also as a material object. While making use of research from the domain of new materialism
and studies dealing with objects, the conducted analyses focused on the appearance of polaroids at the
junction of contrasting cultures. This pertains to, i.a. the use of instant processes by anthropologists,
travellers, and artists from the West in the course of journeys to Second and Third World regions inhabited by
persons unfamiliar with this type of photography. Polaroid cameras, invented for Western amateur
photographers, became an important instrument of inter-cultural communication, but were also used for the
purpose of bribing natives, taking over cultures, political rivalry, and emphasizing the civilizational domination
of the USA.

The text provides a brief summary of “The Lost and Found: Revising Art Stories in Search of Potential Changes” symposium’s third edition, held in Riga on 6–7 June 2024, organised in collaboration with Latvijas Mākslas Akadēmija, the University of Wrocław, and Universidade Nova de Lisboa. During two intense days of discussions, talks, and workshops, artists and art theorists investigated how matter shapes and influences inclusive and holistic relationships between humans and non-humans. They examined matter’s sensory and emotional capacities alongside its function in fostering a safe space where vulnerability and weakness can be freely explored. The analysis also focused on how matter contributes to creating, maintaining, and utilizing safe, inviting, and communal shelters where all beings needing care can find their refugium. Textiles held a unique significance here, especially regarding the collaborative and bonding processes inherent in their creation, including techniques like weaving and knitting.

The idea of an Aegean Conference was born as a students' initiative in January 2013. Its' first edition was organized by Mare Nostrum, a students' academic organization interested in Aegean Archaeology, and the stuff of the Aegean Archaeology Department at University of Warsaw, Poland, Prof. K. Lewartowski and Dr A. Ulanowska. Its' main aim was to give students an opportunity to present their work developed in the field of Aegean Archaeology to a broader public and exchange ideas and observations concerning presented topics, since no other academic event was giving them such a possibility. The first conference gathered thirteen speakers ( graduate and PhD students from Polish and for This volume of Syndesmoi contains papers presented during the proceedings of the 2 nd students' conference in Aegean Archaeology entitled Methods -Researches -Perspectives, which again took place at the Institute of Archaeology in Warsaw, on April 25 th 2014. Positive feedback received by the organizers after the first edition opened the conference to international speakers and broadened the range of discussed subjects. Our beliefs that a conference dedicated strictly to this specific discipline and destined for young researchers was indeed needed were confirmed. Apart from authors listed in this volume, formula into a two-paneled event. The Institute of Prehistory hosted the undergraduate and graduate students part of the conference, while the proceedings of young researchers Warsaw. The results of the third meeting of young Aegean Archaeology's adepts will be published in the next Syndesmoi volume. The organizers would like to use the opportunity to express their gratitude to the directors of the Institute of Archaeology, Prof. W. Nowakowski, Dr K. Jakubiak and Dr R. Karasiewicz-Syndesmoi series, for creating the possibility of publishing students' articles.

This article addresses the prospects for advanced biofuels in Canada by examining whether recommendations of two literatures for overcoming the unfavourable market conditions and policy uncertainty facing advanced biofuels are met in Canada. Our empirical analyses demonstrate the presence of conditions posited by the innovation policy literature. That is, Canadian governments provide financial support for biofuels research infrastructure and private R&D, invest in training highly qualified personnel, and support knowledge creation and mobilization across industry, academia and government. However, our analyses indicate deficiencies in the conditions posited by the policy network and governance literature for policy innovation. The Canadian state's policy analytical capacity, autonomy from industry, and coordination capabilities are low, as is the organizational development of industry actors. Consistent with the recommendations of the policy network and governance literature, we conclude that improving the prospects for the Canadian advanced biofuels sector requires the Canadian government augment its personnel, expertise and budgetary resources for advanced biofuels policymaking, and strengthen its interdepartmental and intergovernmental coordination mechanisms. Greater cooperation between the two organizations representing Canada's advanced biofuels sector is also recommended.

Indeed, material culture studies aims at becoming a post-disciplinary field (Hicks 2010, 87) Cose. Cose che agiscono, che riempiono la dimensione del vissuto, con cui gli esseri umani danno voce all'effimero altrimenti indicibile, oggetti relazionali che permettono uno scambio fra umani e non umani (Cantisani). Cose che fluttuano nello spazio del dissenso, della protesta, della contestazione, lanciate per colpire, cose sovversive che nascondono intenti rivoluzionari, "objetos sesentayochistas" o "street fighting objects", cose che cambiano di segno a seconda della mano che le tiene o le lascia andare con violenza (Thomas). Oppure, cose da desiderare ardentemente, cose da comprare, da "consumare" con voracità, cose da avere, da possedere, da ostentare o da divorare (Caruso). Ma anche cose da lasciare divorare alle fiamme, cose che bruciano sul ciglio della strada (Thomas) o che si sogna di incendiare in uno scenario tanto apocalittico quanto liberatorio (Caruso), perché la loro distruzione fisica acquista un senso nell'ottica di chi guarda le fiamme compiaciuto. Cose di cui prendersi cura, da vestire, da nutrire, per poi abbandonarle al loro destino di consunzione che tuttavia non ne interrompe il ciclo vitale (Cantisani). Ma anche cose preziose, da proteggere, da portare con sé e nascondere fra le pieghe dei vestiti, per salvarle (e salvarsi) dall'oblio di ciò in cui ci si riconosce (Lioi), oggetti d'affezione (Clemente-Rossi 1999) emotivamente

The work of automation in education is not automatic but needs to be ‘done’. Grounded in an ethnographic study which followed a Grade 9/10 class through their daily activities in a ‘regular’ high school for a year, this paper asks how automation is enacted by students and teachers, and what these practices imply for forms of knowledge and relationality. Inspired by feminist technoscience, and drawing on recent work on everyday automation, the paper suggests that the ‘auto-’ of automation in practice is very often more of a ‘sym-’, a ‘with’, in which students and machines co-produce something that looks like automation. Rather than ‘automation’, observing practices in classrooms shows practices of ‘symmation’. The paper elaborates on symmation scenes of realigning, revising and reworking relations. Automation is, in these scenes, deeply embedded in social relations, involving the processing of ability, difference and hierarchy. Rather than the industry hype of automation, these sets ...

In many historical accounts exhibitions are considered in isolation, in relation to specific political or cultural events. This article instead interrogates exhibitions as interlinked sites of personal and professional ‘entanglement’, connected entities that have capacity to sustain and develop multiple relationships, in this case across the career of a single designer, Misha Black (1910–1977). Through successive commissions, Black developed ideas about exhibitions as communication and propaganda, as well as developing his network and modelling formations for professional design practice. Exhibitions Black worked on which are discussed here included The Ibero-American Exhibition, Seville, 1929–1930; MARS Group Exhibition, 1938; Glasgow Empire Exhibition, 1938; New York World’s Fair, 1939–1940; Ministry of Information exhibitions mounted during the Second World War and the Festival of Britain, 1951.

In this article, we demonstrate how Actor–Network Theory has been translated into tourism research. The article presents and discusses three concepts integral to the Actor–Network Theory approach: ordering, materiality, and multiplicity. We first briefly introduce Actor–Network Theory and draw attention to current Actor–Network Theory studies in tourism with a focus on how the approach is sensitive toward heterogeneous orderings. The following section discusses how more recent Actor–Network Theory approaches emphasize multiplicity and thus multiple versions of every ordering attempt. This leads us toward ontological politics, which have bearings on how we approach and understand research methods and how we perform tourism research. In conclusion, we argue that Actor–Network Theory enables a radical new way of describing tourism by critically investigating its ontological conditions.

This article sheds new light on the connection between agriculture and rural-urban migration in contemporary China. Focusing on migrants' places of origin and the case of paddy rice fields, it investigates how rural families cope with the dual challenges of migrating to cities for employment and preserving their fields as safety net resources. In the absence of the middle generation, and especially men, due to migration, it is especially older women who face a double burden of caring not only for the fields but also for their grandchildren. This article is based on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in rural and urban China, including participant observation and interviews with migrating and left-behind farmers, as well as the analysis of local gazetteers, media reports, agricultural reports and statistics. Taking a socio-technical perspective on migration, which is also relevant beyond China, the article discusses three exemplary land-use strategies with a focus on the gendered implications of these strategies. It demonstrates how women who stay draw strategically on available manual and industrial farming technologies and knowledge to actively deal with their households' predicament. It argues that paying more attention to those who stay and

This article arises from a 2021 curatorial collaboration in Chicago
USA by Giovanni Aloi and Andrew S. Yang, authors, educators
and makers who specialise in the representation of nature in art.
Aloi and Yang jointly organised Earthly Observatory, an exhibition
which brought together examples from the practices of 30
artists/contributors. Here, Aloi and Yang re ect on the genesis of
the project, its ambitions and how it contributes to the
contemporary understanding of practice. They emphasise their
commitment to transdisciplinarity as the optimal means to
engage the non-human and explain how they arrived at the
exhibition’s ve thematics: Conditions of Representation; Seeing,
Making, Tracing; Relative Visibilities; Vulnerability and Communality;
and Down to Earth. Aloi and Yang analyse how each imposed
order on a wide variety of thought-provoking works lling six
gallery spaces. The thematics also gave Earthly Observatory its
sense of cohesion. Each tapped the potential for practice of
Donna Haraway’s in uential description of partial perspectives.
Once adopted, situatedness– being somewhere in particular–
challenges the panoptic power of epistemological traditions
stretching back in Western thinking for millennia which have
enforced the ctitious separation between nature and culture.

Cacaxtla was discovered in 1975 when treasure seekers found the first mural paintings. When excavations began, archaeologists soon realised that this site had the largest number of mural paintings ever found in meso-America. The preservation of these paintings was remarkably good, due to the care with which they were buried before the final period of construction. Cacaxtla was at the peak of its development between AD 650-900. Situated on the commercial route between the Mayan and Teotihuacan areas, the mural paintings of Cacaxtla depict both Mayan characteristics and those of the Mexican highlands. The origin of the people of Cacaxtla is still unknown, but their economic power is fully understood, and it is believed that they used their wealth to employ the best painters of the time — probably Mayan. In fact the Mayan area had an important pictorial school, as can be seen in Bonampak, near the border with Guatemala. To date, four sets of paintings have been found (Fig. 36.1): the &...

To construct virtual models of the pre-Hispanic archaeological sites of Bonampak, Cacaxtla and Suchilquitongo for their exploration in real time in the immersive virtual reality system of the National University of Mexico (UNAM), we used different methodologies and obtained results with different levels of precision. The relation between these characteristics and their potential for research, teaching and documentation of historical architecture is explained. The three sites have a good amount of mural painting which make them particularly interesting for several disciplines such as history of art, conservation, and archaeology. Nevertheless, each use has specific requirements that the 3 models cover in different ways.

The article focuses on how residents of the north Bohemian town of
Liberec deal with the property they acquired as a result of displacement.
The objects they use were confiscated from the German-speaking minority
in the aftermath of World War 2. The text provides an overview of narratives
of this event in the Czech public discourse and discusses how these
are reflected in family stories. The study is based on three family histories
collected during ethnographic fieldwork and the analytical framework is
informed by memory studies and theories of hauntology.

In der Februar-Ausgabe des Photoplay Magazine aus dem Jahr 1921 wird in der Kategorie "popular convictions concerning motion picture plays and people" die folgende Aussage genannt: "Do you believe… [t]hat no comedy is complete without a custard pie and a revolving door? That the best comedies have both?" (Stanley 1921, 70). Der ‚custard pie' und entsprechende Tortenwürfe oder gar -schlachten können tatsächlich bis heute als typisches, wenn nicht prototypisches Element der Slapstick-Comedy gelten (vgl. z. B. Wagner 2011, 41), wenn auch "[i]n fact, very few comedies of the twenties really used pies" (Crafton 2006, 357). Während der erste echte Tortenwurf im Slapstick-Film, für den Mabel Normand in MABEL'S DRAMATIC CAREER verantwortlich zeichnete, im Jahr 1913 stattfand (vgl. Wagner 2012, 46), erschien schon 1910 ein -leider verschollener -Film mit dem Titel THE REVOLVING DOORS (vgl. Balducci 2015). Eine Variation der Drehtür war allerdings bereits in einem Sketch des Duos Doretto und Robetta von 1894 ein zentrales Element. In dem nicht einmal eine Minute umfassenden Film CHINESE LAUNDRY, einer wohl abgefilmten Vaudeville-Nummer, wird ein Wäscher von einem Polizisten durch eine ganze Reihe verschiedenartiger Türen verfolgt. Dabei flieht der Wäscher, nachdem er ein kleines Fass auf dem Kopf des Polizisten zertrümmert hat, durch eine Schwingtür auf die Rückseite einer Fassadenkulisse. Diese Schwingtür stellt sich als Hybrid heraus, denn als der Polizist ihm folgt, dreht sich die Tür um eine Mittelachse, sodass beide Figuren sich auf je einer Seite der Tür befinden und umeinander kreisen. Eine sehr ähnliche Sequenz findet sich, fast 25 Jahre später, in FOLLOW THE CROWD (1918) mit Harold Lloyd. Hier folgt Harold, nachdem er zu Beginn zufällig eine Bombe findet, einer Frau in das versteckte Hauptquartier einer terroristischen Vereinigung. Dort provoziert er schließlich ein Handgemenge, im Rahmen dessen er von einem Mann angegriffen und verfolgt wird. Der

The article aims to provide an insight into the analytical approach that has emerged over the last four decades, known as new material culture studies. The first section, drawing primarily on the overviews by Miller (1994a) and Buchli (2002a), delineates the most important stages and turns of the interest of social sciences in material culture. The second section enumerates some of the distinguishing features characterizing
(most of) the research projects that adopt this analytical approach, with a special focus on material agency (how do things construct subjects?), objectification, as well as the perspectives of things-in-motion and things-in-process (Domańska 2006). The third section highlights some of the main directions of the problem sensitivity that is at the heart of new material culture studies (concentrating, among other issues, on the nature
of the boundary between subjects and things, the social constructions of authenticity, the politics of style, taste, and aesthetics, as well as the complex relationship between things and memory). Finally, the last section describes how the biographical method has gained such popularity in recent decades among researchers committed to this
analytical approach and reveals the reasons for its explanatory power.

In this paper I try to identify a minimal definition of culture that might be applicable in the much-more-than-human realm that extends beyond organic matter and human involvement. I speculate that culture conceived in this broad way might be a metapattern or ‘machinic solution’ available to matter of diverse kinds, organic and inorganic. I explore how this idea might apply this to colloids – hybrid forms of matter such as sols, foams and gels that are mixtures of matter in different phase states, some continuous and some discontinuous, and which can behave in complex ways that mix features of solid and fluid behaviour. I conclude by suggesting that attending to both the similarities and differences between ‘culture’ in the organic and in the inorganic realms might force us to rethink our understanding of both.

The Shroud of Turin has been folded multiple times in its history. There is evidence for this in the symmetrical damage created by fire, water and folding creases.  It is possibly the only artefact on earth which has been folded repeatedly without significantly damaging the facial image. The paper examines the multiple patterns and identifies events for those folds and the damage to the Shroud, giving external history to validate the arguments.  For those who believe the Shroud is a medieval artistic creation, the folding patterns cause a significant problem because there is no traceable history for much of the damage in the later Middle Ages.

Este artigo tem por objetivo aprofundar o relato das pesquisas artísticas e acadêmicas realizadas durante o processo de criação das visualidades apresentadas no desfile do GRES. Acadêmicos do Engenho da Rainha durante o carnaval de 2022. Naquele ano, desenvolvi para a agremiação o enredo Punga, Crioula!, cuja temática abordava o tambor de crioula inserido no universo cultural e religioso de São Luís do Maranhão. Uma primeira – e breve – versão deste estudo já foi apresentada por mim anteriormente; no entanto, desta feita, apresento um relato mais detalhado e com recorte específico na criação e produção das fantasias das alas. Detalho, aqui, o processo de pesquisas artística de materiais e técnicas de beneficiamento têxtil aplicadas às fantasias de modo a torná-las adequadas à representação do enredo proposto. Apresento, ainda, o roteiro geral do desfile, documento enviado aos julgadores da Liga LIVRES/RJ e que até o momento ainda não foi tornado público, apesar de sua extrema relevância para os desdobramentos visuais das imagens literárias constantes da sinopse do enredo. O projeto contou com a participação colaborativa de alunos da Pós-graduação em Figurino e Carnaval da Universidade Veiga de Almeida durante as etapas de criação das fantasias; no processo de produção, também colaboraram estudantes das graduações em Artes Cênicas – Cenografia e em Artes Cênicas – Indumentária da Escola de Belas Artes da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. O trabalho realizado comprovou a função significante dos figurinos criados para as alas em um desfile que consagrou a agremiação como campeã do Grupo B do carnaval carioca em 2022.

Among the tombstones preserved in the territory of former East Prussia, two Renaissance effigies deserve attention: the slab showing Johannes von Schönaich kept at Boreczno (Ducal Prussia) and the  other one of Achatius von Zehmen from the church of Sztum (Royal Prussia). The deceased belonged to the local gentry and were depicted in similar poses. The authors discuss the appearance of  both stone slabs, trying to compare the visible armour representations with surviving examples from the  period in question and, on this basis, identify one of the  tombstones as belonging to Johannes von Schönaich (IV, died 1549), one of the  six representatives of the family bearing that name who lived in the 15th and 16th centuries at Boreczno.

Wśród zachowanych na terenie dawnych Prus Wschodnich płyt nagrobnych zwracają uwagę dwie renesansowe: Johannesa von Schönaich w Borecznie i Achacego Czemy w kościele Sztumie. Zmarli przedstawieni w podobnych pozach należeli do lokalnej arystokracji. Autorzy omawiają wygląd płyt, datują i konfrontują przedstawione na nich uzbrojenie z zachowanymi przykładami z epoki oraz na tej podstawie starają się zidentyfikować Johannesa von Schönaich, jednego z sześciu przedstawicieli rodu o tym imieniu, żyjących w XV-XVI w. w Borecznie.