Keywords
Entanglements, New Materialism, Agency
Document Type
Main Theme / Tema Central
Abstract
This paper uses fiction to explore anthropological concepts concerning material culture, entanglements, new materialism, agency and actor-network theory. In this article a fictive ethnographer encounters a violin who narrates its life- from its conception in the forest where it was part of an ecosystem, to taking form as a violin in a luthier’s shop and the skill negotiation that it entails as well as the effect on the human body, similar to Ingold’s theory of skilled practice, later following the violin until contemporary days as it gets exchanged as a precious good or sold as a commodity. The piece in fact explores how the value of such an object can vary through the years, contexts and the own violin’s changing nature, materials and biography. This creative paper explores the violin as more than a single, inanimate object, considering the effect it can have on human lives.
Recommended Citation
Lombardo, Benedetta
(2022)
"The Social Life of Violins: A Creative Exploration of Entanglements and Actor-Network Theory,"
Culture, Society, and Praxis: Vol. 14:
No.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.csumb.edu/csp/vol14/iss1/3