Review: Michalis Kontopodis & Jörg Niewöhner (Eds.) (2010). Das Selbst als Netzwerk. Zum Einsatz von Körpern und Dingen im Alltag [The Self as Network: On Everyday Uses of Bodies and Things]

In the investigation of human everyday life, the significance of the material still tends to be neglected. The anthology edited by KONTOPODIS and NIEWÖHNER presents contributions that draw on relational-materialist concepts in order to praxiographically study how both human and non-human agents transform (mostly biomedical) everyday practices. This review attempts to connect these material-semiotic descriptions to a critical psychological perspective. It highlights how the contributions' focus on material things' actions is valuable for further unraveling the human-world relationship. Meanwhile it questions whether the underlying conceptual framework allows for an emancipatory science which strives for transformations that reach beyond the mere descriptive level.