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Geologies of power: Value transformations of mineral specimens from Guanajuato, Mexico
Author(s) -
Ferry Elizabeth Emma
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.2005.32.3.420
Subject(s) - latin americans , politics , value (mathematics) , commodity , negotiation , autonomy , power (physics) , sociology , geography , economy , political science , economics , social science , law , market economy , mathematics , statistics , physics , quantum mechanics
In this article, I examine the extraction, circulation, and use of mineral specimens from Guanajuato, Mexico. I focus on the actions through which people in Guanajuato transform minerals into social objects and people in gem fairs, museums, and mineral clubs in the United States transform them into “natural” objects. Drawing on the work of Sidney Mintz, Nancy Munn, and others, I study how people use value transformations across global commodity systems to negotiate forms of autonomy within political and economic constraints. In the social relations through which minerals come to the United States and in refashioning stones as “pristine” objects, dealers and collectors also naturalize prevailing relations of power between Latin America and the United States.