num_pages: 296
description: This book concentrates on the varying roles and functions that material culture may play in almost all aspects of the social fabric of a given culture. The contributors from Africa Australia and Papau New Guinea India South America the USA and both Eastern and Western Europpe provide a rich variety of views and experience in a worldwide perspective. Some of the questions examined include: whether all material culture is equivalent to documents which can be read and interpreted by the outside observer; what is the nature of the messages or meanings conveyed in this way?; to what extent does acceptance and subsequent diffusion of a religious belief or symbol may be qualified by the status of the individuals concerned in transmitting the innovation.
language: English
title: The Meanings of Things: Material Culture and Symbolic Expression
publisher: Routledge