Short Abstract:

An interactive dynamic workshop exploring how we each connect to and through objects. Each participant is asked to bring along an object that means something to them. It is a workshop about kinship, the placement of value, gift and exchange.

Long Abstract:

What is your favourite object? That one possession that makes you feel you. An item, small or large, infused with so much meaning it really does feel like the universe in a grain of sand. And can you imagine letting it go? How does this make you feel? And can you imagine gifting it? And if so, to whom and under what conditions would it feel right?

Intrigued? Come to this workshop. A workshop about kinship, the placement of value, gift and exchange. It will reveal attachments and emotions and stories, many many stories. We ask each participant to bring along an object meaningful to them, to come and share its stories.

This will be a time and place to gather self knowledge about how we relate to our objects and to listen and learn about how others relate to theirs. We hope also to learn from our participants about how other groups and peoples from around the globe connect to and through objects. Indeed, how do our personal attachments interact personally, locally and on the world stage. We hope too that this understanding may help us in our ethnographic work, as we observe and are woven into the lives of others and their objects.