The Material Merge is the University of Toronto’s first and only undergraduate academic journal dedicated to the study of material culture and semiotics. The more you look, the more it’s apparent that these two fields belong together. Immaterial signs, meanings, and themes need to be grounded in the physical world to be effective while material things
need to be animated by systems and codes to mesh with human culture. The purpose of this journal is to keep readers in the know about what this generation of students has to say about all that. The Material Merge draws its contents, both non-fiction and creative, from all disciplines, because signs and things can be found wherever one thinks to look.

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.