The Environmental Teapot and Other Loaded Household Objects: Reconnecting the Politics of Technology, Issues and Things

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Marres, Noortje. 2012. The Environmental Teapot and Other Loaded Household Objects: Reconnecting the Politics of Technology, Issues and Things. In: P Harvey; E Casella; G Evans; H Knox; C McLean; E Silva; N Thoburn and K Woodward, eds. Objects and Materials: A Routledge Companion. London and New York: Routledge, na-na. ISBN na [Book Section]

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This book chapter discusses the concept of the politics of objects through a specific empirical example, tea teapots equipped to facilitate environmental awareness and action. It distinguishes between two different forms of object politics: the politics of scripted objects and the politics of augmented objects. Where the former object is political by virtue of the contraints it places on subjects, the latter's politics derive from its capacity to resonate with issues. Here the range of issues the object is capable to confure up - its issuefication - is the principal index of its politicization. The latter form of object politics can be recognized in contemporary objects that are equipped with digital technologies (such as environmental teapots). But it can also be traced back to the pragmatist philosophy of John Dewey, the object-centred theory of morality and politics proposed by him. The chapter concludes with a discusion of the empirical methods that may be deployed to detect and analyse the politics of augmented objects, in particular textual and visual analysis.

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