The Anthropology of Precious Minerals - Hardcover

by Elizabeth Ferry (Editor), Annabel Vallard (Editor), Andrew Walsh (Editor)

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.

Author Biography

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.