Table of Contents

List of figures Acknowledgements Series preface: Why home? Rosie Cox (Birckbeck, UK) and Victor Buchli (University College London, UK) 1. Introduction: Living with light 2. The sociality of lighting 3. In the vagueness of Hygge4. Atmospheric Realities 5. Atmospheric Communities 6. Qualifying bright lighting 7. Ignorance and illumination 8. Reflections of sensory politicsNotesBibliographyIndex

Promotional Information

An investigation of the social role of lighting in people's everyday lives: on how people use lighting as a key component in defining social identity, homeliness, and what 'good lighting' means from an anthropological perspective.

About the Author

Mikkel Bille is Associate Professor at Roskilde University, Denmark.

Reviews

Profoundly illuminating. This book sets a new standard for work in the anthropology of
atmospheres and sensory studies.
*DAVID HOWES, Concordia University, Canada*

An engaging, authoritative and highly original study of light, atmosphere and affect. It is at
the same time an impassioned and robust argument for the field Mikkel Bille has been so
central in founding: the socio-cultural understanding of how people construct and perform
their social lives not just in light but with light.
*DON SLATER, London School of Economics, University of London, UK*

Mikkel Bille’s theoretical and ethnographic investigation makes a significant advance
towards offering a new vision of the personal, societal and environmental implications of
how people live with light.
*SARAH PINK, RMIT University, Australia*

In expanding anthropological understanding about illumination, Mikkel Bille has produced
a fascinating account of homely atmospheres, technological incompetence and the intense
sociality of lighting. This highly readable, compelling and timely book is both provocative
and authoritative.
*TIMOTHY EDENSOR, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK*