Recent German-speaking human geography is characterised by a growing interest in the material dimension of the social and the cultural. This material turn in human geography can be seen as part of a general trend in social sciences. In a first step, this introduction to a special issue on the re-materialisation of human geography aims at illustrating the general meaning of materiality from a social science perspective. Subsequently, it describes the theoretical background which supplies the driving force of re-materialisation. After a detailed discussion of the different approaches towards materiality in the ongoing theoretical discourse, the methodical and methodological consequences for social research in human geography are pointed out.