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Om forfatteren

Ian Hodder is the Dunlevie Family Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University. His previous books include Entangled: An Archaeology of the Relationships between Humans and 'Things and The Leopard's Tale: Revealing the Mysteries of atalhyk.

Omfatter også følgende navne: I. Hodder, Ian Hodder

Værker af Ian Hodder

Archaeological Theory Today (2001) 64 eksemplarer
Theory and Practice in Archaeology (1992) 43 eksemplarer
Symbolic and Structural Archaeology (1982) — Redaktør — 8 eksemplarer
Assembling Çatalhöyük (2016) 5 eksemplarer
Archaeology beyond dialogue (2004) 4 eksemplarer
Where Are We Heading (2018) 2 eksemplarer
Simulation studies in archaeology (1978) 2 eksemplarer
Archaeology as long-term history (1987) 2 eksemplarer
Archaeology in 1984 1 eksemplar

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I obviously didn’t read this book carefully enough; I say that because the bibliography references Proust (Swann’s Way) and Woolf (A Room of One’s Own) and I don’t remember seeing either of those in the text. I also find there’s a whole lot more archaeology theory than I thought, and a lot of it is over my head intellectually. Still, I got some insights. Ian Hodder is an archaeologist working at the interesting Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük, and uses it to illustrate his theme of entanglements – how humans and things connect. Most of the discussion is too deep for me; I’ll have to reread the book. But there were a couple of things that stood out. One was the observation that the invention of wire-drawing machinery made possible (1) barbed wire; (2) telegraph wire; and (3) piano wire, affecting things as diverse as WWI trench warfare and the Moonlight Sonata. Another was a comment on the common complaint that we have “too much stuff” and our live would be so much better if we were entangled with fewer “things”. Hodder notes, though, that “things” are often how we fulfil our obligations to other humans. It's all well to admire Diogenes and his barrel, but what good did he do others?… (mere)
 
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setnahkt | Jun 26, 2023 |
The book was interesting. I was continuously annoyed when the author uses the term "humans" to describe the behavior limited to only the humans of civilization of empire. Of course humans living in empire continually need more stuff. That is a premise of empire and capitalism itself. This doesn't mean acquiring more stuff is a human trait. It is a trait of a specific culture that has now spread to most of the planet. I was expecting a book on the evolution of humans, not the evolution of empire and civilizations.… (mere)
 
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SonoranDreamer | 2 andre anmeldelser | Mar 7, 2022 |
Needless moralising in an otherwise fun article stretched into a book.
 
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Paul_S | 2 andre anmeldelser | Dec 23, 2020 |
Is Human Evolution Directional? by Ian Hodder is the study of man and his relationship with what he creates. Hodder is an archaeologist and professor of anthropology at Stanford University. His most recent books are Entangled: An Archaeology of the Relationships Between Humans and Studies in Human-Thing Entanglement.

This is a book not about the biological evolution of man, although some of that is included in why we have small teeth and weak jaws, but of man as a species. Comparisons are made between man and other animals such as beaver dams and manmade dams. This is not only discussed in purpose but also in reaction and the effects of the completed project. Most of the discussion concerns man and his dependence on things and things that are dependant on man. As Hodder digs deeper, he shows that there is an entanglement between man and things. The connection of Christmas tree lights in America and car production in China is one example used in the book.

There are also interesting discussions of wheat and cotton, and they have evolved from in production and the effects of technology. Other items are less organic like the QWERTY keyboard design. Its design was created so that the arms would not jam when typing letters that are physically too close to each other. There are more efficient designs and not many people still use manual typewriters, but QWERTY stayed because it became the standard -- taught in high schools, taught in secretarial schools, standardized all makes and models of typewriters. It may not be the best design but it would be nearly impossible to change it today.

Hodder makes a compelling case for the entanglement of man and things. I can see this in everyday America. We make cars for transportation. We design cities to be car friendly. We widen roads to allow more cars. We raise speed limits so vehicles can move more quickly. However, in the process, we find ourselves dependant on cars. Suburbs, urban sprawl, housing communities isolated from businesses are byproducts. If we don't have a car, we become stuck. Many areas do not have sidewalks, public transportation, or bike lanes. We created a system that system that ties our success to the success of the flow of automobiles. That flow also creates environmental concerns. Our solutions are not effective. We build hybrid and electric cars to ease our dependence on fossil fuels, but many areas electricity is produced by burning coal. So an electric vehicle is essentially a coal-burning vehicle. This simple analogy runs far deeper when we include petroleum production, automobile production (which includes steel, plastics, and rare earth elements), changing the landscape/environment by building new roads, and removing the habitat for other animal life. Although it may seem to most that we control our destiny as a species by building, manufacturing, and changing the environment, we have become dependant on the things we make, and they may guide our future more directly than we thought possible. The deeper we go the more we see our future entangled with and directed by the things we make.
… (mere)
 
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evil_cyclist | 2 andre anmeldelser | Mar 16, 2020 |

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