Artifact as a Node of Heterogeneous Relationships: A Study with Traditional Natural Packaging in Cooking and Food Preparation Practices in Antioquia, Colombia

• Published in: Philosophies (Basel) Vol. 7; no. 5; p. 119
• Main Authors: Gutiérrez-Aguilar, Carlos Mario, Giraldo Vásquez, Maria Isabel, Parra Arcila, Juan Pablo, Castrillón Forero, Javier Ernesto, Ruiz Restrepo, Mariana, Monterroza-Rios, Alvaro David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-10-2022
• Subjects: Analysis; Archaeology; Cooking; Culture; Design; Food; function theory; Material culture; Materiality; Natural & organic foods; natural food packages; Natural foods; Packaging; Philosophy; philosophy of technology; Social aspects; technical artifacts; Tradition (Philosophy); Colombia
• DOI: 10.3390/philosophies7050119
• EISSN: 2409-9287

This article studies natural food packaging as enabling artifacts of the traditional material culture of Antioquia in Colombia. For this purpose, we consider artifacts as objective nodes that combine design and use intentions, functions, materials, histories, artifactual lineages, and cooperative relationships that stabilize ritualized practices of a human group. We take the example of natural packaging as artifacts that enablers and stabilizers of traditional cooking and food preparation practices. Natural packaging materials are here assumed to be leaves having some favorable property to contain a food product. After providing a theoretical reflection, we analyze the data collected from fieldwork we conducted in two towns in Antioquia, Colombia (Santa Fe de Antioquia and Amagá), as well as from an interview with an expert in the field. Finally, we show that it is possible to postulate an analysis under a relational ontological description of a traditional practice with conceptual categories of the philosophy of technology.