Scarred objects and time marks as memory anchors: The significance of scuffs and stains in organisational life

This article lays the workplace under the microscope to examine how scuffs on floors and battered corners on desks – things we define as ‘scarred objects’ – become material autobiographical archives and are made into memory anchors by workers. We explore how these scarred objects, construed as insignificant by some, become integral to workers’ sense of memory and continuity. These scarred objects become time marks (Walsh, 1992) which provide a...