The communicative dimension of objects: imaginaries and symbolic systems as mediators of memory in material culture [La dimensión comunicativa de los objetos: imaginarios y sistemas simbólicos como mediadores del recuerdo en la cultura material]

Abstract

An investigation is presented on the imaginary relations between the inhabitants of the Oriente antioqueño region, in Colombia, and their favorite objects, broken down into three generations: children, parents and grandparents. It is based on a philosophical, anthropological and semiotic reflection of the objects, where the classical conceptual frameworks in the matter are reviewed and put in dialogue with contemporary works of sociological, communicative and aesthetic nature. A mixed methodology is used: first, from the quantitative analysis variables are defined as generation, environment, time with the object and symbolic system; second, the generations and the environment of origin of objects are correlated with the symbolic systems in which they act. At the end, we reflect on the relevance and topicality of the theoretical traditions of object study to look at the implications of the supposed virtualization/digitization of the world in relation to what the empirical results of the study show. © 2022 REINWARDTIA. All rights reserved.