From Unknown to Known Objects- Cultural Knowledge in Action

We know how to use objects in our everyday-life. Normally its not problematic because we just do it. But if someone ask us why (we know that) it is getting more complicated because it’s hard to reflect about our own routines of practise. In line with Garfinkel (1967) I assume that everyday activities aren’t arbitrarily but organised and we can learn a lot about the routines if we disturb them. The irritations of the routines offer insights in the ways people try to fix the crisis situation and to come back to “normality”. It’s curious but we learn more about the normal way of doing things if we disturb them as if we just try to observe the normal way of acting.

To provoke an irritation of the routines of meaning construction of objects I gave unknown objects to small groups of students and asked them to find out the use of these things. I used video analysis methods to keep the details and to be able to recognise situational procedures of handling the uncertainty in the material world. The results show that the meaning of the unknown objects emerged in a communicative construction which strongly bases on different forms of cultural knowledge in action. Interesting examples are the search for contexts of use which are in a pragmatic manner connected with imagined or real experiences and body knowledge as a way to test and create ideas for the “right” use.

References:

Garfinkel, H. (1967): Studies in ethnomethodology. New Jersey.