Overview
Some objects seem especially personal and important to us – be it a quickly packed suitcase, an inherited vase, or a photograph. In Sensitive Objects the authors discuss when, how, and why particular objects appear as 'sensitive'. They do so by analyzing the objects' affective charging in the context of historically embedded practices. Sensitive Objects is a contribution to the upcoming field of 'affect research' that has so far been dominated by psychology and cultural studies, and the authors examine the potential for epistemic gain by connecting the studies of affect with the studies of material culture. The contributors, predominantly ethnologists and anthropologists, use fieldwork to examine how people project affects onto material objects and explore how objects embody or trigger affects and produce affective atmospheres.Reviews
"Even though I was reasonably familiar with the affective turn before reading this book, I am pleased to report that after reading the book, I feel like I know more about affect theory and have a better idea about the sort of insights it can generate in ethnological research and its range of application in various studies." "The book concerns the nexus of affect theories and material culture studies in European Ethnology and Social Anthropology. It is both evidence of the affective turn in ethnology and an instrument designed to help to make that turn successful." "The book (…) is inspiring in its arguments, methods, and analyses. It is certainly an important and innovative contribution to theory and methodology in European Ethnology and related fields." "While there are many books on affect theory and the affective turn, and of course a long tradition of books on the ethnography study of material culture and the ethnological study of everyday life, the book makes a unique and important contribution insofar as it brings these together in new and innovative ways that clearly generate novel insight". (Endorsements made by anonymous peer reviewers)Author Biography
Jonas Frykman is professor emeritus of European ethnology at the Department of Cultural Sciences, Lund University, Sweden. He co-edited this volume as professor II at Agderforskning, Kristiansand, Norway. His main research interests are culture and class, socialisation, body, memorials and phenomenological analysis of culture. Maja Povrzanovic Frykman is professor of ethnology and teaches at the Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University, Sweden. She is also acting as part-time senior researcher at Agderforskning, Kristiansand, Norway. Her main research interests are war-related experiences, diaspora and transnational practices, highly skilled migrants, place, ethnicity and material culture.