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Cited by 375

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 28 of the 28 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Observed Decay: Telling Stories with Mutable Things

DeSilvey, Caitlin·2006·Journal of Material Culture

Abstract

The degradation of cultural artefacts is usually understood in a purely negative vein: the erosion of physical integrity is associated with a parallel loss of cultural information. This article asks if it is possible to adopt an interpretive approach in which entropic processes of decomposition and decay, though implicated in the destruction of cultural memory traces on one register, contribute to the recovery of memory on another register. The article tracks the entanglement of cultural and natural histories through the residual material culture of a derelict homestead in Montana. In conclusion, the article suggests that deposits of degraded material, though inappropriate for recovery in conventional conservation strategies, may be understood through the application of a collaborative interpretive ethic, allowing other-than-human agencies to participate in the telling of stories about particular places.

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Metadata

Authors
DeSilvey, C.
Venue
Journal of Material Culture
Published
2006-11
Volume
11
Issue
3
Pages
318-338
ISSN
  • 1359-1835 (ISSN-L)
  • 1460-3586
OpenAlex
W2148763290
Cited by
375
References
28
FWCI
37.02
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Observed Decay: Telling Stories with Mutable Things. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1177/1359183506068808
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DeSilvey, C. (2006). Observed Decay: Telling Stories with Mutable Things. Journal of Material Culture. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183506068808

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.