WHAT IS NEW MATERIALISM?

New materialism is one of the most important emerging trends in the humanities and social sciences, but it is also one of the least understood. This is because, as a term of ongoing contestation, it currently has no single definition. The novel contribution of this article is to offer a critical introduction to new materialism that distinguishes between three commonly conflated strands and to argue for what we find to be the most promising and novel of the three directions. The paper unfolds in four parts: First, it illuminates more precisely just what is "new" about new materialism by contrasting it with "old" materialism. Second, it clarifies how failed materialism is an intermediary theory between old and new materialisms. Third, it untangles and compares three main directions in new materialism. Fourth, it ultimately argues in favor of the third direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]