Material Culture and the Politics of Personality in Early Victorian England

This article uses the insights of material culture studies to explore the role of objects in the development of a politics of personality in the first half of the nineteenth century. Political objects were part of a broader material culture of fame and recognition in this period, encompassing a wide range of public figures such as royalty, military heroes and authors. These artefacts acquired agency, playing an important role in the construction of their subjects as recognizable public figures: an asset for popular politicians whose primary constituencies lay beyond the ranks of the enfranchised. By representing key moments in the public narrative of a politician's career, objects and other representations helped to cement the connection between individuals and the causes with which they were chiefly associated. Some objects, including jugs, teapots and other practical items, may have been used in the public performance of rituals of loyalty to a particular figure. Others, including the famous Staffordshire figurines, were designed for display in the home, becoming vehicles for the domestic re-enactment of public narratives and the performance or construction of personal loyalties and identities. The article concludes by considering the way in which objects associated with famous political figures, including autograph letters, signed prints or even more intimate objects such as locks of hair, could be used to forge real or imagined relationships between politicians and individual members of their wider public.     

社会名望与权力平衡:解读王敦之乱

东晋初期,皇权与士族之间以及士族内部存在着权力分配的微妙平衡。王敦第一次举兵是反对元帝打破此平衡之举,第二次举兵却是自己主动打破此平衡,因此众多士族对此的反应前后大不相同。最终,这场各方力量参与的博弈维持了东晋初期权力平衡的局面。在这场权力角逐中,名望所带来的社会资本扮演了关键的角色。通过对王导、元帝、王敦、周■、温峤等人社会资本与政治权力的分析,可以揭示出文化场域中名望与政治场域权力间的互动和转化。