Conversation

Aug 10, 2020

"Dirt is matter out of place" - the loveliest definition of dirt you could hope for from anthropologist Mary Douglas in her classic 1966 book Purity and Danger Hair on my head? Clean. Hair on the table? Dirty! Illustrating & expanding on her main ideas: maggieappleton.com/dirt

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timo

@timovirtanen_

Aug 10, 2020

Makes me also think what cleanliness means. Matter in order/place?

Replying to

Yup, exactly! Douglas explains “cleaning” as an act of constructing the world as we imagine it. We draw dividing lines between things, and build categories of what belongs where. Things only become dirty when they cross those boundaries. She says it more poetically though 😊

11:36 AM · Aug 11, 2020Twitter Web App

Replying to

Wonderful! Thinking about different views on cleaning at home, I guess I don’t mind blurry lines between concepts as much as my partner, haha! 😃 Funnily enough tho, it seems to apply to other areas too.