Rzeczy i ich ludzie. W obronie rzeczy Bjørnara Olsena
Things and their humans. In Defense of Things by Bjørnar Olsen

Summary/Abstract: In his new book In Defense of Things, Norwegian archaeologist Bjørnar Olsen attempts at transgressing the anthropocentric paradigm, still present in modern humanities. Such an approach greatly corresponds with historical, archaeological and literary research on the (in)visibility of material objects, which has been recently gaining popularity amongst Polish scholars (so called turn to things). This review points out to the connection between Olsen’s theory of symmetrical archaeology and the concept of non-anthropocentric humanities, developed by i.a.: Ewa Domańska. It also discusses Olsen’s own efforts to put this interdisciplinary scientific use of objects to practice (as a part of his “Ruin Memory Project”) and compares them to a similar study conducted by his Polish translator Bożena Shallcross. The brief account on reception of the book in Poland is also included.

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