| Summary: | In much recent thinking, social and cultural realms are thought of as existing prior to--or detached from--things, materiality, and landscape. It is often assumed, for example, that things are entirely "constructed" by social or cultural perceptions and have no existence in and of themselves. Bjornar Olsen takes a different position. Drawing on a range of theories, especially phenomenology and actor-network-theory, Olsen claims that human life is fully mixed up with things and that humanity and human history emerge from such relationships. Things, moreover, possess unique qualities that are in.
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