Border Fetishisms: Material Objects in Unstable Spaces

by Spyer,Patricia; Spyer,Patricia

• ISBN13: 9780415918565
• ISBN10: 0415918561
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-11-20
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The essays inBorder Fetishismsexplore the cultural, commercial, political and erotic dimensions that distinguish fetish formations in fractured colonial and postcolonial spaces. Spanning such topics as Surinamese conversion to Christianity to shoplifting in Georgian England, to face the fetish, the contributors neither demagicalize the fetish nor normalize the commodity. Instead, they call for the inclusion of material things -- as fetishes or not -- within the experience of human sufferings and joy. Contributors:Robert J. Foster, Webb Keane, Susan Leg6~ne, Annelies Moors, Peter Pels, William Pietz, Adela Pinch, Patricia Spyer, Peter Stallybrass, Michael Taussig.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(12)
Patricia Spyer
Calvin in the Tropics: Objects and Subjects at the Religious Frontier	13	(22)
Webb Keane
From Brooms to Obeah and Back: Fetish Conversion and Border Crossings in Nineteenth-Century Suriname	35	(25)
Susan Legene
Your Money, Our Money, the Government's Money: Finance and Fetishism in Melanesia	60	(31)
Robert J. Foster
The Spirit of Matter: On Fetish, Rarity, Fact, and Fancy	91	(31)
Peter Pels
Stealing Happiness: Shoplifting in Early Nineteenth-Century England	122	(28)
Adela Pinch
The Tooth of Time, or Taking a Look at the ``Look'' of Clothing in Late Nineteenth-Century Aru	150	(33)
Patricia Spyer
Marx's Coat	183	(25)
Peter Stallybrass
Wearing Gold	208	(16)
Annelies Moors
Crossing the Face	224	(21)
Michael Taussig
Afterword: How to Grow Oranges in Norway	245	(8)
William Pietz
Contributors	253	(2)
Index	255