The Material Merge is an interdisciplinary journal that seeks to explore the deep connection between humans and objects, and what that means to our humanity. The main objective of this journal is to explore new perspectives and approaches through a lens of semiotics and material culture, two things which are very interconnected; material culture is all the tangible objects that cultures use or have used, and they are often embedded with many signs and symbols that define semiotics.

The Material Merge publishes original articles related to our subject matter — material culture and semiotics. All undergraduate students from any program at U of T are welcome to submit essays, research projects and reviews, as well as some creative pieces. What we fundamentally want from papers is that they are original, engaging, and well-made.

In winter 2023 we organized our first-ever magazine! In the fall semester, we will be collaborating with Victoria College’s Material Culture and Semiotics program to create a conference based on our subject matter.

The journal is subdivided into 2 sections. The first is “Symbolic culture”, which explores the meaning we give to objects through a cultural lens. The second is “Material fusion”, which is about the blurring division between people and the objects they make.