The lives of things on Pulau Ujir; Aru’s engagement with commercial expansion
In places with limited access to manufactured goods, people must develop creative strategies to make the most of available materials, both those produced by humans and those taken from the natural world. Although Pulau Ujir, in the Aru Islands, has a long history of engagement with global trade netw...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universitas Indonesia, Faculty of Humanities
2019-10-01
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| Series: | Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/wacana/vol20/iss3/1/ |
| _version_ | 1797786566559531008 |
|---|---|
| author | Joss R. Whittaker |
| author_facet | Joss R. Whittaker |
| author_sort | Joss R. Whittaker |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In places with limited access to manufactured goods, people must develop creative strategies to make the most of available materials, both those produced by humans and those taken from the natural world. Although Pulau Ujir, in the Aru Islands, has a long history of engagement with global trade networks, until recently the community’s access to manufactured goods was limited and infrequent. As a result, in the past objects there tended to take on new lives, and still do today: they are modified, re-purposed, and recycled in ingenious ways. This article explores the relationship between people and things in Ujir from the perspectives of object biography and Actor Network Theory. I argue that the complex “life stories” of material things in such conditions of scarcity deserve special attention, because they may explain not only puzzling archaeological phenomena, but also aspects of the social lives of the people who used and reused them. Two modified and repurposed fragments, one of porcelain and one of glass, serve as examples. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:10:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6257861a69584d7b90b9f1af37577807 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1411-2272 2407-6899 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:10:39Z |
| publishDate | 2019-10-01 |
| publisher | Universitas Indonesia, Faculty of Humanities |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia |
| spelling | doaj.art-6257861a69584d7b90b9f1af375778072023-07-06T03:02:32ZengUniversitas Indonesia, Faculty of HumanitiesWacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia1411-22722407-68992019-10-0120337539910.17510/wacana.v20i3.760The lives of things on Pulau Ujir; Aru’s engagement with commercial expansionJoss R. Whittaker0University of Washington, SeattleIn places with limited access to manufactured goods, people must develop creative strategies to make the most of available materials, both those produced by humans and those taken from the natural world. Although Pulau Ujir, in the Aru Islands, has a long history of engagement with global trade networks, until recently the community’s access to manufactured goods was limited and infrequent. As a result, in the past objects there tended to take on new lives, and still do today: they are modified, re-purposed, and recycled in ingenious ways. This article explores the relationship between people and things in Ujir from the perspectives of object biography and Actor Network Theory. I argue that the complex “life stories” of material things in such conditions of scarcity deserve special attention, because they may explain not only puzzling archaeological phenomena, but also aspects of the social lives of the people who used and reused them. Two modified and repurposed fragments, one of porcelain and one of glass, serve as examples.https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/wacana/vol20/iss3/1/archaeologyaruobject biographyagencyactor network theorytradesupermodernity. |
| spellingShingle | Joss R. Whittaker The lives of things on Pulau Ujir; Aru’s engagement with commercial expansion Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia archaeology aru object biography agency actor network theory trade supermodernity. |
| title | The lives of things on Pulau Ujir; Aru’s engagement with commercial expansion |
| title_full | The lives of things on Pulau Ujir; Aru’s engagement with commercial expansion |
| title_fullStr | The lives of things on Pulau Ujir; Aru’s engagement with commercial expansion |
| title_full_unstemmed | The lives of things on Pulau Ujir; Aru’s engagement with commercial expansion |
| title_short | The lives of things on Pulau Ujir; Aru’s engagement with commercial expansion |
| title_sort | lives of things on pulau ujir aru s engagement with commercial expansion |
| topic | archaeology aru object biography agency actor network theory trade supermodernity. |
| url | https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/wacana/vol20/iss3/1/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jossrwhittaker thelivesofthingsonpulauujirarusengagementwithcommercialexpansion AT jossrwhittaker livesofthingsonpulauujirarusengagementwithcommercialexpansion |