Theme 4. The Circulation of Objects and Cultural Signs

In all areas of social and cultural life today, in definitions of self and of groups, the circulation, not only of persons but also that of ideas, artefacts, representations and modes of cultural consumption constitutes a phenomenon whose impact is recognized to a greater and greater extent. Indeed, there is no doubt that the conjugated effects of multiple flows, of displacements of people, merchandise, ideas and media action profoundly transforms not only the way that artistic, technological, religious, and mercantile resources circulate, but also the way that these resources can be mobilized in support of individual and collective identifications that are insufficiently described by the frames of Nation-state and collective entities (class, caste, family, lineage, ethnic group) that occupy social science vocabulary.

The objective of this theme is to study the processes of appropriation, adjustment, adaptation or of negotiation related to phenomena of circulation and diffusion of objects and cultural signs. In particular, we will try to understand how these circulations affect artistic creations, technological exchanges and religious dynamics, as well as collective imaginings, the formation and reconfiguration of subjectivities and forms of belonging, or the practices of management and transformation of physical appearance.

Program 4.1. Artistic creations, technological exchanges and religious dynamics
Program 4.2. Socio-economic uses of ethnicity