Reading Material Culture: Structuralism, Hermeneutics and Post-Structuralism (Social Archaeology)

central To Any Understanding Of The Significance Of Material Objects, Whether Contemporary Or Prehistoric, Is A Discussion Of The Very Nature Of Interpretation Itself: How We 'read' Artefacts And Inscribe Them Into The Present. This Book Examines The Complex Relations Between Material Culture, Social Structures And Social Practices From Structuralist, Hermeneutical And Post-structuralist Viewpoints. booknews the Work Of Modern Thinkers Barthes, Derrida, Foucault, Levi-strauss, Geertz And Ricoeur Is Reviewed In Six Essays That Explore The Interpretation Of Artifacts From Structuralist, Hermeneutical And Post-structuralist View-points. Acidic Paper. Annotation C. Book News, Inc., Portland, Or (booknews.com) "Central to any understanding of the significance of material objects, whether contemporary or prehistoric, is a discussion of the very nature of interpretation itself: how we 'read' artefacts and inscribe them into the present. This book examines the complex relations between material culture, social structures and social practices from structuralist, hermeneutical and post-structuralist viewpoints." "Reading Material Culture explores this interpretative process through examinations of the work of outstanding contemporary thinkers, focusing on Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Clifford Geertz, Claude Levi-Strauss and Paul Ricoeur. It considers their contributions to understanding past and present social worlds and the role of material-culture production and use within them. Among the themes discussed are the nature of time and history; discourse and textuality; the problem of subjectivity; and the politics of academic production. Each chapter concludes with an assessment of the theorist's relevance to the future of material-culture studies in the 1990s." "These essays challenge many of our fundamental preconceptions about language, society and the material world we inhabit. Transcending disciplinary boundaries, this book will be indispensable reading for students and specialists in archaeology, anthropology, literary criticism, and cultural and media studies. Book jacket."--Jacket