Acerca de este artículo

Product Identifiers

PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press

ISBN-100226114724

ISBN-139780226114729

eBay Product ID (ePID)70951479

Product Key Features

Number of Pages236 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameEthnicity, Inc

SubjectEthnic Studies / General, Anthropology / Cultural & Social

Publication Year2009

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaSocial Science

AuthorJean. Comaroff, John L. Comaroff

SeriesChicago Studies in Practices of Meaning Ser.

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.8 in

Item Weight15.9 Oz

Item Length8.9 in

Item Width6.6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN2008-040972

Dewey Edition22

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal305.8

Table Of Content1 Prologue 2 Three or Four Things about Ethno-futures 3 Questions of Theory 4 Commodifying Descent, American-style 5 A Tale of Two Ethnicities 6 Nationality, Inc.; Divinity, Inc.; and Other Futures 7 Conclusion Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

SynopsisIn Ethnicity, Inc. anthropologists John L. and Jean Comaroff analyze a new moment in the history of human identity: its rampant commodification. Through a wide-ranging exploration of the changing relationship between culture and the market, they address a pressing question: Wherein lies the future of ethnicity? Their account begins in South Africa, with the incorporation of an ethno-business in venture capital by a group of traditional African chiefs. But their horizons are global: Native American casinos; Scotland's efforts to brand itself; a Zulu ethno-theme park named Shakaland; a world religion declared to be intellectual property; a chiefdom made into a global business by means of its platinum holdings; San "Bushmen" with patent rights potentially worth millions of dollars; nations acting as commercial enterprises; and the rapid growth of marketing firms that target specific ethnic populations are just some of the diverse examples that fall under the Comaroffs' incisive scrutiny. These phenomena range from the disturbing through the intriguing to the absurd. Through them, the Comaroffs trace the contradictory effects of neoliberalism as it transforms identities and social being across the globe. Ethnicity, Inc. is a penetrating account of the ways in which ethnic populations are remaking themselves in the image of the corporation-while corporations coopt ethnic practices to open up new markets and regimes of consumption. Intellectually rigorous but leavened with wit, this is a powerful, highly original portrayal of a new world being born in a tectonic collision of culture, capitalism, and identity., In Ethnicity, Inc. anthropologists John L. and Jean Comaroff analyze a new moment in the history of human identity: its rampant commodification. Through a wide-ranging exploration of the changing relationship between culture and the market, they address a pressing question: Wherein lies the future of ethnicity? Their account begins in South Africa, with the incorporation of an ethno-business in venture capital by a group of traditional African chiefs. But their horizons are global: Native American casinos; Scotland's efforts to brand itself; a Zulu ethno-theme park named Shakaland; a world religion declared to be intellectual property; a chiefdom made into a global business by means of its platinum holdings; San "Bushmen" with patent rights potentially worth millions of dollars; nations acting as commercial enterprises; and the rapid growth of marketing firms that target specific ethnic populations are just some of the diverse examples that fall under the Comaroffs' incisive scrutiny. These phenomena range from the disturbing through the intriguing to the absurd. Through them, the Comaroffs trace the contradictory effects of neoliberalism as it transforms identities and social being across the globe. Ethnicity, Inc. is a penetrating account of the ways in which ethnic populations are remaking themselves in the image of the corporation--while corporations coopt ethnic practices to open up new markets and regimes of consumption. Intellectually rigorous but leavened with wit, this is a powerful, highly original portrayal of a new world being born in a tectonic collision of culture, capitalism, and identity.

LC Classification NumberGN495.6.C6454 2009