Return and Repetition: Methods for Material Culture Studies

Repetition has long been an important tool in such fields of humanities research as literary studies and art history, in which scholars repeatedly return to texts and images to develop critically engaged understandings. Historians also need to adopt repetition as a distinct methodology, particularly in relation to the material world. Repetitive engagement with the material world has the potential to open up new research avenues for historians, through a greater awareness of the questions prompted by things. It also provides a means of developing much-needed material literacies and extending and expanding modes of attention.