Observing the doings of built spaces: attempts of an ethnography of materiality

Abstract: The paper makes a methodological contribution to the question as to which part built space plays in social practices. In doing so, we firstly use practice theory according to Schatzki as a theoretical basis to clarify the relationship between space and activity. For that, it is important to overcome with Schatzki (and Heidegger) the difference between subjective and objective space. This is made possible by making “lived space” not independent of or dependent on subjectivity, but dependent on activity. In a second step, we will use an example of ethnographic observation to show under which conditions and advertencies it was possible to recognize space’s part in activity. We describe what appeared by chance in observation theoretically with the concept of atmosphere in the third part. This concept was introduced into the discourse on architecture by Böhme, it was rendered more precisely by Seel, and we try to connect it to our starting point in practice theory. After applying the co

Object Details

• Alternative title: Das Tun gebauter Räume beobachten: Ansätze einer Ethnographie der Materialität
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Observing the doings of built spaces: attempts of an ethnography of materiality ; volume:39 ; number:2 ; year:2014 ; pages:167-180 ; Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; Historical social research ; 39, Heft 2 (2014), 167-180

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie, Anthropologie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Reh, Sabine ; Temel, Robert

Further information

• DOI: 10.12759/hsr.39.2014.2.167-180
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-385113
• Rights: Open Access; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:59 AM CEST