Daniel Miller (anthropologist)
Encyclopedia
Daniel Miller is an anthropologist
most closely associated with studies of our relationships to things and the consequences of consumption
. His theoretical work was first developed in Material Culture and Mass Consumption and is summarized more recently in his book Stuff. This is concerned to transcend the usual dualism
between subject and object and to study how social relations are created through consumption as an activity.
and anthropology at the University of Cambridge
but has spent his entire professional life at the Department of Anthropology, University College London
which has become a research center for the study of material culture and where more recently he established the world’s first program dedicated to the study of digital anthropology.
With his students he has applied these ideas to many genres of material culture such as clothing, homes, media and the car, through research based on the methods of traditional anthropological ethnography in regions including the Caribbean, India
and London
. In the study of clothing, his work ranges from a book on the Sari in India to more recent research explaining the popularity of blue jeans and the way they exemplify the struggle to become ordinary. His initial work on the consequences of the internet for Trinidad was followed by studies of the impact of mobile phones on poverty in Jamaica and more recently the way Facebook has changed the nature of social relationships.
His work on material culture also includes ethnographic
research on how people develop relationships of love and care through the acquisition of objects in shopping and how they deal with issues of separation and loss including death through their retention and divestment of objects. He argues that since we cannot control death as an event, we use our ability to control the gradual separation from the objects associated with the deceased as a way of dealing with loss. Complementary to this work on separation from things are three books about shopping, the most influential of which, A Theory of Shopping, looks at how the study of everyday purchases can be a route to understanding how love operates within the family. He has also carried out several projects on female domestic labour and being a mother, including studies of au pairs, and Filipina women in London and their relationship to their left behind children in the Philippines. Most of these projects are collaborations.
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
most closely associated with studies of our relationships to things and the consequences of consumption
Consumption (economics)
Consumption is a common concept in economics, and gives rise to derived concepts such as consumer debt. Generally, consumption is defined in part by comparison to production. But the precise definition can vary because different schools of economists define production quite differently...
. His theoretical work was first developed in Material Culture and Mass Consumption and is summarized more recently in his book Stuff. This is concerned to transcend the usual dualism
Dualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
between subject and object and to study how social relations are created through consumption as an activity.
Education
Miller was originally trained in archaeologyArchaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
and anthropology at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
but has spent his entire professional life at the Department of Anthropology, University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
which has become a research center for the study of material culture and where more recently he established the world’s first program dedicated to the study of digital anthropology.
Anthropological Position
Miller criticises the concept of materialism which presumes our relationships to things are at the expense of our relationship to persons. He argues that most people are either enabled to form close relationships to both persons and objects or have difficulties with both.With his students he has applied these ideas to many genres of material culture such as clothing, homes, media and the car, through research based on the methods of traditional anthropological ethnography in regions including the Caribbean, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In the study of clothing, his work ranges from a book on the Sari in India to more recent research explaining the popularity of blue jeans and the way they exemplify the struggle to become ordinary. His initial work on the consequences of the internet for Trinidad was followed by studies of the impact of mobile phones on poverty in Jamaica and more recently the way Facebook has changed the nature of social relationships.
His work on material culture also includes ethnographic
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
research on how people develop relationships of love and care through the acquisition of objects in shopping and how they deal with issues of separation and loss including death through their retention and divestment of objects. He argues that since we cannot control death as an event, we use our ability to control the gradual separation from the objects associated with the deceased as a way of dealing with loss. Complementary to this work on separation from things are three books about shopping, the most influential of which, A Theory of Shopping, looks at how the study of everyday purchases can be a route to understanding how love operates within the family. He has also carried out several projects on female domestic labour and being a mother, including studies of au pairs, and Filipina women in London and their relationship to their left behind children in the Philippines. Most of these projects are collaborations.
Works
- 1984, (with C. Tilley). Eds. Ideology, Power and Prehistory.
- 1985, Artefacts As Categories: A study of Ceramic Variability in Central India.
- 1987, Material Culture and Mass Consumption.
- 1989, with M. Rowlands and C. Tilley) Eds. Domination and Resistance.
- 1993, Ed. Unwrapping Christmas.
- 1994, Modernity - An Ethnographic Approach: Dualism and mass consumption in Trinidad.
- 1995, Acknowledging Consumption.
- 1995, Ed. Worlds Apart - Modernity Through the Prism of the Local.
- 1997, Capitalism: an Ethnographic Approach.
- 1998, A Theory of Shopping.
- 1998, Ed. Material Cultures
- 1998, (With J. Carrier) Virtualism: a New Political Economy.
- 1998, (with P. Jackson B. Holbrook and N. Thrift) Shopping Place and Identity
- 2000, (et al.) Commercial Cultures: Economies, Practices, Spaces.
- 2001, (with D. Slater) The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach
- 2001, The Dialectics of Shopping.
- 2001, Ed. Car Cultures.
- 2001, Ed. Consumption (four volumes)
- 2001, Home Possessions: Material Cultures Behind Closed Doors.
- 2003, (With M. Banerjee). The Sari.
- 2005, (with Suzanne Küchler) Ed. Clothing as Material Culture.
- 2005, Ed. Materiality.
- 2006, (With H. Horst) The Cell Phone: An Anthropology of Communication.
- 2008, The Comfort of Things.
- 2009, Ed. Anthropology and the Individual.
- 2010, Stuff.
- 2010, (with Zuzana Búriková) Au Pair
- 2011 (with Sophie Woodward) Eds. Global Denim
- 2011 Tales from Facebook
- In Press (with Mirca Madianou)Migration and New Media: Transnational families and polymedia
- In Press (with Sophie Woodward) Blue Jeans - The art of ordinary