Skip to Main Content

Revolutionary Things: Material Culture and Politics in the Late Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World

Online ISBN:
9780300271843
Print ISBN:
9780300259018
Publisher:
Yale University Press
Book

Revolutionary Things: Material Culture and Politics in the Late Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World

Ashli White
Ashli White
University of Miami
Find on
Published online:
21 September 2023
Published in print:
20 June 2023
Online ISBN:
9780300271843
Print ISBN:
9780300259018
Publisher:
Yale University Press

Abstract

The book brings material culture to bear on a central historical question: What did and did not change during the age of Atlantic revolutions, and why? It argues that everyday objects affected, rather than merely reflected, the contests at the heart of American, French, and Haitian revolutions. Things shaped how people understood equality, freedom, and solidarity, and how they promoted, and thwarted, the realization of these ideals on the ground. This push-and-pull between continuity and change occurred at the level of daily life: the clothes on people’s backs, the plates from which they ate, the maps that guided their movements, and the diversions that amused them. This vantage on the era matters because whether enslaved or free, poor or elite, male or female, late eighteenth-century individuals lived in material worlds. And through their engagement with things, these diverse sectors influenced ideological debates that transcended borders. As people turned to objects to challenge standing hierarchies, they witnessed some success. Yet they also confronted the unique restrictions that things placed on transformation. These bounds were structural—where and of what objects were made—and they were socially constructed, as individuals determined to what extent they were willing to accept certain alterations to their material realities. Revolutionary Things demonstrates that we cannot comprehend the achievements and limitations of this defining moment without taking the consequences of things seriously.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close