Table Of ContentMaterial Powers
Thiseditedcollectionisamajorcontributiontothecurrentdevelopmentofa‘materialturn’
inthesocialsciencesandhumanities.Itexploresnewunderstandingsofhowpowerismade
upandexercisedbyexaminingtheroleofmaterialinfrastructuresintheorganisationof
statepowerandtheroleofmaterialculturalpracticesintheorganisationofcolonialforms
ofgovernance.
A diverse range of historical examples is drawn on in illustrating these concerns –
from the role of territorial engineering projects in seventeenth-century France through
thedevelopmentofbureaucraticinformationsystemsinnineteenth-centuryBritaintothe
relationsbetweenthestateandroad-buildingincontemporaryPeru,forexample.Similarly,
thecolonialcontextsexaminedarevaried,rangingfromtheroleofphotographicpractices
in the constitution of colonial power in India and the measurement of the bodies of
the colonised in French colonial practices to the part played by the relations between
museumsandexpeditionsintheorganisationofAustralianformsofcolonialrule.These
specificconcernsareconnectedtomajorcriticalre-examinationsofthelimitsoftheearlier
formulationsofculturalmaterialismandthelogicofthe‘culturalturn’.
The collection brings together a group of key international scholars whose work has
playedaleadingroleindebatesinandacrossthefieldsofhistory,visualculturestudies,
anthropology,geography,culturalstudies,museumstudiesandliterarystudies.
Tony Bennett is Research Professor of Social and Cultural Theory in the Centre
for Cultural Research at the University of Western Sydney. He is also a Professorial
Fellow in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne
and Visiting Research Professor at the Open University in the UK. Recent publications
includeCulture:AReformer’sScience (Sage,1998),PastsBeyondMemory:Evolution,
Museums, Colonialism (Routledge, 2004) and Culture, Class, Distinction, with Mike
Savage,ElizabethSilva,AlanWarde,ModestoGayo-CalandDavidWright(Routledge,
2008).
Patrick Joyce is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Manchester, and
currentlyVisitingProfessorofSociologyattheLondonSchoolofEconomicsandFernand
BraudelFellowinHistoryattheEuropeanUniversityInstitute,Florence.Hehaspublished
widely on the history of work, class and popular politics, in recent times developing
an interest in historical aspects of governmentality. His publications include Visions of
the People (Cambridge University Press, 1991), The Oxford Reader on Class (Oxford
UniversityPress,1995),TheSocialinQuestion(Routledge,2001)andTheRuleofFreedom
(Verso,2003).
Culture, economy and the social
A new series from CRESC – the ESRC centre for research on
socio-cultural change
Editors
ProfessorTonyBennett,CentreforCulturalResearch,University
ofWesternSydney
ProfessorPennyHarvey,Anthropology,ManchesterUniversity
ProfessorKevinHetherington,Geography,OpenUniversity
EditorialAdvisoryBoard
AndrewBarry,UniversityofOxford
MichelCallon,EcoledesMinesdeParis
DipeshChakrabarty,TheUniversityofChicago
MikeCrang,UniversityofDurham
TimDant,LancasterUniversity
Jean-LouisFabiani,EcolesdeHautesEtudesenSciencesSociales
AntoineHennion,ParisInstituteofTechnology
EricHirsch,BrunelUniversity
JohnLaw,OpenUniversity
RandyMartin,NewYorkUniversity
TimothyMitchell,NewYorkUniversity
RollandMunro,KeeleUniversity
AndrewPickering,UniversityofExeter
MaryPoovey,NewYorkUniversity
HughWillmott,UniversityofCardiff
SharonZukin,BrooklynCollegeCityUniversityNewYork/GraduateSchool,
CityUniversityofNewYork
TheCulture,EconomyandtheSocial seriesiscommittedtoinnovativecontem-
porary,comparativeandhistoricalworkontherelationsbetweensocial,cultural
andeconomicchange.Itpublishesempirically-basedresearchthatistheoretically
informed,thatcriticallyexaminesthewaysinwhichsocial,culturalandeconomic
changeisframedandmadevisible,andthatisattentivetoperspectivesthattendto
beignoredorside-linedbygrandtheorisingorepochalaccountsofsocialchange.
Theseriesaddressesthediversemanifestationsofcontemporarycapitalism,and
considersthevariouswaysinwhichthe‘social’,‘thecultural’and‘theeconomic’
areapprehendedastangiblesitesofvalueandpractice.Itisexplicitlycomparative,
publishingbooksthatworkacrossdisciplinaryperspectives,cross-culturally,or
acrossdifferenthistoricalperiods.
The series is actively engaged in the analysis of the different theoretical
traditions that have contributed to the development of the ‘cultural turn’ with
a view to clarifying where these approaches converge and where they diverge
onaparticularissue.Itisequallyconcernedtoexplorethenewcriticalagendas
emerging from current critiques of the cultural turn: those associated with the
descriptiveturnforexample.Ourcommitmenttointerdisciplinaritythusaimsat
enriching theoretical and methodological discussion, building awareness of the
commongroundthathasemergedinthepastdecade,andthinkingthroughwhat
isatstakeinthoseapproachesthatresistintegrationtoacommonanalyticalmodel.
Seriestitlesinclude:
TheMediaandSocialTheory(2008)
EditedbyDavidHesmondhalghandJasonToynbee
Culture,Class,Distinction(2009)
Tony Bennett, Mike Savage, Elizabeth Bortolaia Silva, Alan Warde, Modesto
Gayo-CalandDavidWright
MaterialPowers(2010)
EditedbyTonyBennettandPatrickJoyce
TheSocialafterGabrielTarde:DebatesandAssessments(forthcoming)
EditedbyMateiCandea
CulturalAnalysisandBourdieu’sLegacy(forthcoming)
EditedbyElizabethSilvaandAlanWarde
Milk,ModernityandtheMakingoftheHuman(forthcoming)
RichieNimmo
CreativeLabour–MediaWorkinThreeCulturalIndustries(forthcoming)
DavidHesmondhalghandSarahBaker
RiodeJaneiro:UrbanLifethroughtheEyesoftheCity(forthcoming)
BeatrizJaguaribe
Material Powers
Cultural studies, history and the material turn
Edited by
Tony Bennett
and Patrick Joyce
Firstpublished2010
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
270MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NY10016
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninforma
business
©2010TonyBennettandPatrickJoyceforselectionandeditorial
material,individualcontributorsfortheircontributions
TypesetinTimesNewRomanbyGlyphInternationalLtd.
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainbyCPIAntonyRowe,Chippenham,
Wiltshire
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin
anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting
fromthepublishers.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Acatalogrecordforthisbookhasbeenrequested
ISBN:978-0-415-48303-2(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-415-60314-0(pbk)
ISBN:978-0-203-88387-X(ebk)
Contents
Listoffigures ix
Contributors x
Acknowledgements xiii
Materialpowers:introduction 1
PATRICK JOYCE AND TONY BENNETT
PART1
Ahistoryofthecategories 23
1 Matterandmaterialism:abriefpre-historyofthepresent 25
JOHN FROW
2 Locatingmatter:theplaceofmaterialityinurbanhistory 38
CHRIS OTTER
3 Thematterofmaterialism:literarymediations 60
BILL BROWN
PART2
Assemblingthestate 79
4 Theunintendedstate 81
CHANDRA MUKERJI
5 FilingtheRaj:politicaltechnologiesoftheImperialBritishstate 102
PATRICK JOYCE
viii Contents
6 Abstraction,materialityandthe‘scienceoftheconcrete’in
engineeringpractice 124
PENNY HARVEY AND HANNAH KNOX
PART3
Colonialmaterialities 143
7 CameraworkastechnicalpracticeincolonialIndia 145
CHRISTOPHER PINNEY
8 Exploringthesensesandexploitingtheland:Railroads,
bodiesandmeasurementinnineteenth-centuryFrenchcolonies 171
NÉLIA DIAS
9 Makingandmobilisingworlds:assemblingand
governingtheother 190
TONY BENNETT
Index 209
Figures
5.1 Toppageoffile2101/1900 115
5.2 Thesecondpageoffile2101/1900 116
7.1 AbodyinIndianclothes:thecamerarecords,thecaption
normalises.SaltedpaperprintbyAhmadAliKhanc.1856–7 152
7.2 NawabRajBegumSahiba.Saltedpaperprintc.1855byAhmad
AliKhanwithwatercoloursurround 153
7.3 OnepagefromAnIllustratedHistoricalAlbumoftheRajasand
TaaluqdarsofOudh,1880.Fourtipped-inalbumenprintsby
AbbasAli 155
7.4 ‘MalwaBheels’.PhotographbyJamesWaterhouse1862,asit
appearedinThePeopleofIndia1868–1875.Tipped-inalbumen
print 157
7.5 Thepresenceofpaintsignifieshigherstatus.Overpainted
albumenprint,westernIndia,latenineteenthcentury 160
7.6 Thepresenceofpaintsignifieslowerstatus.TheseSvetambara
Jainmonks’attendantsbearmarksoftheircontinuingattachment
totheworld.Overpaintedalbumenprint,westernIndia,late
nineteenthcentury 161
Contributors
Tony Bennett is Research Professor in Social and Cultural Theory in the
Centre of Cultural Research at the University of Western Sydney. He is also
Visiting Professor at the Open University and a Professorial Fellow in the
SchoolofCultureandCommunicationattheUniversityofMelbourne.Recent
publications include Culture: A Reformer’s Science; Pasts Beyond Memory:
Evolution, Museums, Colonialism; New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of
CultureandSociety (editedwithLarryGrossbergandMeaghanMorris);and
Culture, Class, Distinction (with Mike Savage, Elizabeth Silva, Alan Warde,
ModestoGayo-CalandDavidWright).
BillBrownisGeorgeM.PullmanProfessorofEnglishandtheHistoryofCulture
attheUniversityofChicagoandco-editorof CriticalInquiry.Heistheauthor
of TheMaterialUnconscious(1996)andASenseofThings:TheObjectMatter
ofAmericanLiterature(2003).Heisalsotheeditorof Things(2004).
Nélia Dias is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the
UniversityofLisbon(Portugal).Sheistheauthorof LeMuséed’Ethnographie
du Trocadéro. Anthropologie et Muséologie en France (Paris, CNRS, 1991)
and La Mesure des Sens. Les Anthropologues et le corps humain au 19e
siècle (Paris, Aubier, 2004) and of several articles on the history of French
anthropologyandonethnographicmuseumsfromthenineteenthcenturytothe
present. She is currently working on the relationships between quantification
and the classification of categories of people in nineteenth-century physical
anthropologyandmedicaldiscourses.
John Frow is Professor of English Language and Literature at the University
of Melbourne. He is the author of Marxism and Literary History (1986);
Australian Cultural Studies: A Reader (ed. with Meaghan Morris, 1993);
Cultural Studies and Cultural Value (1995); Time and Commodity Culture
(1997); Accounting for Tastes: Australian Everyday Cultures (with Tony
BennettandMichaelEmmison,1999),andGenre(2006).
Penny Harvey is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of
Manchester.HerregionalspecialisationisinSouthAmericaandEurope,and
shehasconductedfieldworkinPeru,SpainandtheUK.Herresearchinterests
