Abstract

ESCALONA VICTORIA, José Luis. Ethnomerchandise and Over-Fetishization. An Essay from a Stereographic Perspective. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2016, vol.37, n.148, pp.259-288. ISSN 2448-7554.

Artisanal production has often been interpreted as being characterized by the cultural and social singularity of producers, an approach that has given it an important place in ethnonarratives that speak of the particularity of certain groups and their worldviews. This essay proposes examining these objects from a distinct perspective -stereoscopically- by seeing them as ethnomerchandise. On the one hand, this entails undertaking an analysis of the processes through which the image that accompanies artisanal products when they are offered in tourist markets or to museums and collections is produced; processes understood here as involving over-fetishization. On the other, our approach demands understanding the profound link between ethnomerchandise with its producers and the dynamics of capital; the same link that the very appearance of the objects seems to conceal.

Keywords : fetishism; merchandise; ethnonarrative; tourism; museum.

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