Professor Daniel Miller, a leading scholar in material culture, digital anthropology and studies of consumption, will visit The Centre for Consumer Society Research in February to showcase his latest book projects. Professor Miller is a prolific anthropologist whose many books have influenced the work of numerous academics. In Material Culture and Mass Consumption (1987) he developed a theory of material culture based on Hegelian philosophy. A Theory of Shopping (1998) explores how everyday purchases can be a route to understanding love within families. The Comfort of Things (2008) examines how people develop social relations and care through the acquisition of objects. The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach (2000), co-written with Don Slater, was one of the first anthropological studies on the impact of the internet.
At University College London (UCL), Miller directs the Centre for Digital Anthropology. Over the past decade, he has directed research projects such as Why We Post and The Anthropology of Smartphones and Smart Ageing (ASSA). These projects, involving extensive ethnographic studies across nine countries, have resulted in 20 published books, opening new perspectives for cross-cultural study of technologies and aging
Miller’s current book project, Understanding China through Digital Anthropology, delves into the ways digital tools influence everything from social media and health services to trade networks and algorithm design, while showing how China is changing with the spread of digital technologies. The book challenges the meaning of the term digital, opening future scholarly paths for anthropology and beyond.
Miller’s recent book, The Good Enough Life, is an exploration of what life could and should be. Drawing from fieldwork conducted among retired individuals in a small Irish town, Miller examines profound questions about freedom, inequality, community, and the purpose of life. In this exploration, Miller demonstrates the unique potential of anthropology and philosophy to enrich one another.
Join us for two events in February to hear and discuss about Miller’s work
REPAIR Scholarly talk by Daniel Miller entitled The Good Enough Life, will take place on February 11 at 15:00 online.
Book Talk by Daniel Miller entitled Understanding China through Digital Anthropology will take place February 12 at 16:30 online.
Both events are organized by the Valuable breakages: repair and renewal of algorithmic systems (REPAIR) that seeks to establish new and creative ways to do collaborative research and promote livable algorithmic futures. The REPAIR consortium is funded by the Strategic Research Council and led by Minna Ruckenstein, professor of Emerging Technologies in Society at the The Centre for Consumer Society Research.