Reflections on Modern Material Culture and Everyday Collecting in the Finnish Context

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When considered from the everyday life stance, the act of ¡°collecting¡± material things is a gripping and a multiple topic. The focus on my presentation is on modern everyday material objects and what kinds of perspectives such ideas as ¡°collecting¡± and ¡°north¡± can bring up from this stance. I start my presentation by briefly introducing the scholarly frameworks of my former studies relating to material culture. After that, I show a few examples of my own personal items, games, and old drawings for instance that I keep in the boxes out of sight. I approach the topic for instance from the stance of how things are collected or/and how they pile up. In addition, I touch on the question of how everyday objects could sometimes also function as intermediators between immaterial and material culture, old and new, as well as between self-made (vernacular) and manufactured commercial culture products. Thus, my discussion touches on topics such as storing stuff (for the rainy day), repairing and reworking of things, and historically or otherwise reflecting (also judging) them in different platforms as in internet.