As biografias dos objectos

Vaso Campaniforme de Ciempozuelos (c. 2200-1500 a.C., Museu Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid).

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«In doing the biography of a thing, one would ask questions similar to those one asks about people: What, sociologically, are the biographical possibilities inherent in its “status” and in the period and culture, and how are the possibilities realized? Where does the thing come from and who made it? What has been its career so far, and what do people consider to be an ideal career for such thing? What are recognized “ages” or periods in the thing’s “life”, and what are the cultural markers for them? How does the thing’s use change with its age, and what happens to it when it reaches the end of its usefulness?»

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Igor Kopytoff, «The cultural biography of things: commodization as process», pp. 66-67.