MOVING SUBJECTS, MOVING OBJECTS

The material world is often created by gendered power structures and used to express gendered identities. In this paper, I will offer an overview of the historiography of gender and material culture in the modern period. The first half of the paper will focus on studies of modern Britain. I will take a long view of the development of the history of gender, considering its relationship with cultural history, and why the study of material culture is useful to historians working in this area. I will then explore how historians of gender have recently used material culture, focusing on three main areas: gendered responsibility for purchasing goods; the use of material things to shape and create ideas of gender, and in particular new work that focuses on the construction of masculinity through everyday objects and practices; and the way in which historians of the family and emotional life have started to use the material world, especially in work on fatherhood. I will also reflect on recent criticisms of the study of gender and material culture, and how and where the field might usefully develop in the future. The second half of the paper will focus in on the material culture of the home. Narrowing the focus of discussion will allow me to open up the geographical remit of the paper to explore how we might use the study of gender and material culture in a transnational context.

The case study of the island of Taquile in the Peruvian part of Lake Titicaca will be used to explore how textiles functions as intermediaries for social interactions and change and how they respond to demands from ethnic tourism. By using theories of material culture, specifically the analytical approach of "the biography", I aim to shed light on the process by which some textiles in Taquile have passed from being the person’s “second skin” to a commodity responding to ethnic tourism. However, such a process, rather than being contradictory, expresses the capacity of Taquilean culture to adapt the local values to a monetary economy. Taquilean culture is also an agent in these encounters with tourism, impeding the complete commoditization of the textiles.

Studies of photographic archives have tended to follow two distinct models: analyses of institutional archives as systems of knowledge and power, or close readings of objects informed by theories of material culture. Art historical research, in contrast, also seeks to determine intentional meanings behind images or artefacts. The archive of a photographer can thus be approached along three different angles: as a system for filing images and their meanings; as a collection of material objects; finally, as traces of use that correspond to specific intentional acts by the artist directed towards the production of artworks. In an art historical context, the archive can be read as a means towards an end. This paper presents a case study of Canadian photographer John Max (1936-2011) and his use of the archive to produce the landmark sequence Open Passport (exhibited 1972; published 1973). Using both documentary and material evidence shows how John Max’s photographic artworks are specified through a process of materially realized editorial decisions more than by the moment of exposure. These decisions in turn are mediated by material features of the archive, such as traces of previous choices on contact sheets. Finally, this mediating role of the archive is also socialized, integrating both collaborators and existing ideas, pointing at the necessity of a networked narrative in monographic studies of photographers.

HIV/AIDS prevention for migrants and ethnic minorities: three phases of evaluation

This study discusses the renaissance of terracotta as a primary medium in modern Nigerian sculpture, its evolution from a traditionally historical material to one of conceptual and aesthetic significance. Terracotta has strong roots in Nigeria's sculptural history, particularly in the Nok, Ife, and Benin civilizations, where it was used ritualistically, spiritually, and symbolically. But its use diminished under the influence of colonial power, modernist tendencies, and the embracing of industrial materials such that it was relegated to the periphery of modern art practice. Based on fieldwork, interviews with practicing artists, and observation of exhibitions, the research explores how Nigerian sculptors are envisioning a renewed interest in terracotta to contest existing art hierarchies and reconstitute material value. These artists are engaging with the medium not only for its natural and material potential but also for its ability to address subject matter of identity, cultural memory, environmental sustainability, and postcolonial critique. Grounded in postcolonial and material culture theory, the article argues that terracotta's revival reflects a broader trend of re-centring indigenous materials and epistemologies in Nigerian art. It argues that this re-engagement places terracotta as a medium of resistance and innovation and lends to a vibrant sculptural vocabulary mediating between tradition and modern relevance.

Handicrafts are not merely objects of beauty; they are living repositories of moral imagination, cultural identity and inherited wisdom. This article explores the ethical and cultural dimensions of rural Indian handicrafts, focusing on Chanderi and Maheshwari weaving, bell-metal work, terracotta pottery and bamboo craftsmanship from Madhya Pradesh. Drawing on material culture theory, phenomenology and Indian aesthetic philosophy, it examines how these practices embody dharma (righteous duty), karma (work as devotion) and samskara (cultural refinement). Field-based observations reveal that artisans view their work not as production but as prayer - a yajna, a ritual offering sustaining moral order and ecological harmony. In an age of industrial uniformity, such crafts endure as vessels of memory and moral meaning, weaving together tradition, embodiment and philosophical reflection.

The article explores the “digital traces” of the structural integration of cross-border migrants in Russia by combining qualitative text analysis methods with automatic classifiers. Our goal was to analyze posts related to job and housing searches in migrant communities on VKontakte in order to describe the challenges these individuals face and how they use social media to overcome them. From the wide range of practices falling under the definition of structural integration, we focused on job and housing searches, considering them the most significant. Our tasks were to identify and classify mentions of these practices in migrant groups on VK, determining the role of social media in these processes. Given the large volume of material, achieving these goals required an approach that combined the capabilities of automatic classifiers with the analytical sensitivity of qualitative methods. The use of a linear classifier did not yield the expected results, prompting the need to train a neural network classifier. To reduce the associated labor costs, we tested the possibility of training the model on a small manually selected dataset of short texts. Using a Python-based parser, we extracted 129,261 posts from migrant groups, categorizing them thematically via web interface. The texts were then used to train a BERT network (F1 score: 0.94). To ensure the accuracy of classification and to obtain preliminary sociological insights, a randomized sample was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. This analysis revealed that the digital platforms under study serve as spaces where migrants build “the strength of weak ties,” accumulating information and social capital, which in turn reduces the costs and risks associated with integration when searching for jobs and housing in resource-scarce conditions. Religious and regional solidarity serve as the foundation of these networks. Additionally, digital media platforms become contact points between migrants and the host society: they facilitate the informal involvement of migrants, especially refugees from Ukraine, Donetsk, and Luhansk, into family economies and caregiving roles. For example, migrants are offered low-paying agricultural work or caregiving jobs for elderly relatives in small towns or villages, with free accommodation provided by the employer. Another category of posts offers housing in Russian cities to refugee women in exchange for domestic labor and sex. This indicates that some migrant groups may be part of the broader problem of sexual exploitation of female refugees in Russia and the marginalization of migrants by the host community. The results are consistent with those obtained through more traditional methods, indicating that this approach can be applied to the study of large datasets generated by less-researched communities.

The Heritage of Displacement: Forced Migration in the Mediterranean through History

Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1 What s in a Name? Themes, Concepts and Obfuscations 6 2 Theorizing Globalization: Political Science and Sociology 36 3 Theorizing Globalization: Geography, Anthropology and Cultural and Communication Studies 59 4 Theories of Globalization and Space 69 5 Theories of Globalization and Culture 91 6 Theories of Globalization and History 110 7 Theories of Globalization and Governance 130 8 Theories of Globalization and Capitalism 151 9 All Change: Critical Globalization Studies or a Social Science of Globality? 177 Bibliography 191 Index 223

The settlement of foreign-born migrant communities in London has received considerable scholarly attention. Using the recently released Integrated Census Microdata, this article contributes to the literature as it argues that individualised mapping processes can reveal distinct settlement patterns within migrant communities. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that migrants were highly mobile entities and that communities continuously underwent radical transformations. Two areas of East London are used as case studies to highlight the different behaviours exhibited by migrant groups during a period of intense arrival and settlement. These neighbourhoods were selected on account of the availability of geo-spatial and census data. After processing in a Geographic Information System, data is explored and mapped to illustrate the concentration and composition of individual properties. Ultimately, this article presents evidence of tight migrant clustering and the gradual spread of migrants as they eventually settle entire streets. The decennial changes highlight some form of interchange. As migrants left one subsection, they moved to another. Although the literature indicated and suggested strong tendencies of residential clustering, this research has demonstrated the complexities of this point and revealed a number of previously unexplored behaviours.

The overall aim of the paper is to present evidence on the factors underpinning historical deportation cases, by exploring the reasons, explanations and patterns related to deportation in Australia. The purpose is to consider whether these historical factors are antecedent to current forms of deportation occurring in Australia, and to bring to the fore potential recurring patterns. Deportation is currently conceptualised by border criminologists as a punitive tool of discipline and control, within the realm of penal powers. Some of this work on the ‘deportation regime’ asserts that certain migrants, or groups of migrants, are undesirable: their identity, (not)belonging and punishment have become inherently intertwined, and their mobility has become politicised and criminalised. This article theorises that deportation has been used in Australia, now and in the past, to expel individuals who are viewed as detrimental to the ‘health’ of the host society. The ‘deportation categories’ demonstrate that migrants’ desirability has historically been a temporary condition, shifting over time in line with the state’s requirements. They also demonstrate the historical regime of criminalisation of undesirable others enacted through Australia’s border control regime.

About the Contributors

In the last two or three decades, material culture as a topic of scientific study has experienced a real boom. Focusing on everyday objects, their contexts and meanings, material culture studies offers important approaches for several disciplines within the humanities. The aim of this new wave of research is to improve the understanding of social practices in a wider sense and thereby contribute to the understanding of societies themselves. Given this ambitious goal, and the wide range of disciplines engaged in studying material culture, the new approach will only have a future if interdisciplinary debates are initiated and succeed in making reciprocal benefits. In particular, the complementarities of different disciplinary methodologies should result in useful synergies. If material culture studies is seen only as a domain within anthropology (or any other discipline) then we risk it coming to a dead end (Bertrand and Jewsiewicki 1999, 181; Hahn 2005, 12). This is the larger context in which I see the relevance of the present essay and, before going into details, I would like to express my support to the ideas expressed by Garrow and Shove.

Henrik Ibsen and Conspiracy Thinking: The Case of <i>Peer Gynt</i>

Interpretive Art and Archaeology