Why do people single out gold, sapphires, diamonds, and other minerals as particularly ""precious""? What makes precious minerals ""precious""? Drawing from ethnographic and cross-cultural research, this collection of anthropological essays and case studies answers these questions by exploring humans' multifaceted relationships with the minerals they deem ""precious.""
The Anthropology of Precious Minerals addresses the entanglement of humans and minerals, with a particular focus on the practices of scrappers, miners, and hunters as they work to extract value. The editors draw from history, archaeology, and ethnography, and remind us that ""preciousness"" must always be understood in relation to complex cultural, political-economic, and semiotic systems of value.
Edited by:
Elizabeth Ferry,
Annabel Vallard,
Andrew Walsh
Imprint: University of Toronto Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions:
Height: 231mm,
Width: 157mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 460g
ISBN: 9781487503178
ISBN 10: 1487503172
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 06 December 2019
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Acknowledgments Introduction: Engaging Precious Minerals Andrew Walsh, Elizabeth Ferry, and Annabel Vallard Part One: Engaging Mineral Sources Introduction to Part One: Scrappers, Miners, and Hunters Susan D. Gillespie 1. ""Check Out That Gold-Plated Board!"" Scrapping Cellphones and Electronics in North America Joshua A. Bell 2. What Is ""Artisanal"" about ""Artisanal Mining""? Reflections from Madagascar’s Sapphire Trade Andrew Walsh 3. The Value and Social Lives of Alpine Crystals Gilles Raveneau Part Two: Mineral Connections Introduction to Part Two: Making Preciousness: Distinction and Refraction Elizabeth Ferry 4. When Stones Become Gems: Valuations of Minerals in Thailand Annabel Vallard 5. Transparent Minerals and Opaque Diamond Sources Filipe Calvão 6. Gold, Ontological Difference, and Object Agency Les W. Field Afterword: Facets of Preciousness Andrew Walsh, Elizabeth Ferry, and Annabel Vallard Contributors Index"
Elizabeth Ferry is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Brandeis University. Annabel Vallard is a researcher at The National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS, France). Andrew Walsh is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Western University.
Reviews for The Anthropology of Precious Minerals
""Collectively, the processes of mineral valuation and circulation of precious minerals illustrate that ‘preciousness’ should be defined relative to complex and dynamic cultural, political-economic, and semiotic value systems. Compelling, thoughtful analyses of affect and materiality."" -- C. C. Kolb, independent scholar * <em>CHOICE</em> *
