Introduction: Materials Matter

Abstract

In the introduction of the volume Materials of Culture, László Munteán and Liedeke Plate advocate for a 'materials turn' within the larger sweep of the material turn in the humanities and the social sciences. Drawing on theories of material culture studies, new materialism, and material agency, as well as on recent scholarship in anthropology, archaeology, and art history, the authors lay the groundwork for a materials-based perspective in cultural studies. Rather than taking objects, things, and the concept of materiality, as points of departure for analysis, this perspective focuses on materials and highlights their relevance to culture and vice versa.