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The essays in Border Fetishisms explore 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.
List of contents
Introduction, Patricia Spyer; Chapter 1 Calvin in the Tropics: Objects and Subjects at the Religious Frontier, Webb Keane; Chapter 2 From Brooms to Obeah and Back: Fetish Conversion and Border Crossings in Nineteenth-Century Suriname, Susan Legêne; Chapter 3 Your Money, Our Money, the Government's Money: Finance and Fetishism in Melanesia, Robert J. Foster; Chapter 4 The Spirit of Matter: On Fetish, Rarity, Fact, and Fancy, Peter Pels; Chapter 5 Stealing Happiness: Shoplifting in Early Nineteenth-Century England, Adela Pinch; Chapter 6 The Tooth of Time, or Taking a Look at the "Look" of Clothing in Late Nineteenth-Century Aru, Patricia Spyer; Chapter 7 Marx's Coat, Peter Stallybrass; Chapter 8 Wearing Gold, Annelies Moors; Chapter 9 Crossing the Face, Michael Taussig; Afterword: How to Grow Oranges in Norway, William Pietz;
About the author
Patricia Spyer is Assistant Professor at the Research Center for Religion and Society, University of Amsterdam. She is the author of The Memory of Trade (1997).
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"...this collection should be of interest to area specialists and postmodern metatheorists." -- Nova Religio
"the authors demonstrate very clearly the hybrid nature of the fetish." -- Frank J. Korom Religious Studies Review
"Very useful for any scholar of religion interested in the intersection between materials objects, ritual, economic activity, and political ideology, or in Marxist theory." -- Religious Studies Review
