Scenes From a Troubled Marriage

Abstract

Why did material culture studies take up such a central space in the develop ment of European ethnology in Sweden and why was this field abandoned, only to return during the 1980s in the new form of studies of 'creative con sumption' ? This paper looks at the changing ways in which the world of goods has been a research topic. Drawing on the Swedish experience it also discusses some ways of revitalizing the field, focusing on the materiality of everyday life, from the level of home-making to nation-building.