Materializing Difference - 9781487520403

Materializing DifferenceConsumer Culture, Politics, and Ethnicity Among Romanian Roma\nAuthor(s): Pter Berta\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: University of Toronto Press, Canada\nImprint: University of Toronto Press\nISBN-13: 9781487520403, 978-1487520403\nSynopsis\nHow do objects mediate human relationships, and possess their own social and political agency? What role does material culture such as prestige consumption as well as commodity aesthetics, biographies, and ownership histories play in the production of social and political identities, differences, and hierarchies? How do (informal) consumer subcultures of collectors organize and manage themselves? Drawing on theories from anthropology and sociology, specifically material culture, consumption, museum, ethnicity, and post-socialist studies, Materializing Difference addresses these questions via analysis of the practices and ideologies connected to Gabor Roma beakers and roofed tankards made of antique silver. The consumer su.