The fetish revisited : Marx, Freud, and the gods Black people make / J. Lorand Matory.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Matory, James Lorand, author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Marx, Karl, 1818-1883.

Marx, Karl.

Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939.

Freud, Sigmund.

Fetishism.

Africa--Religion.

Africa.

Religion.

Physical Description:

xx, 362 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, [2018]

Summary:

J. Lorand Matory casts an Afro-Atlantic eye on European social theory to show how Marx's and Freud's conceptions of the fetish illuminate and misrepresent the nature of Africa's gods while demonstrating that Afro-Atlantic gods have their own social logic that is no less rational than European social theories.

"Since the early-modern encounter between African and European merchants on the Guinea Coast, European social critics have invoked African gods as metaphors for misplaced value and agency, using the term "fetishism" chiefly to assert the irrationality of their fellow Europeans. Yet, as J. Lorand Matory demonstrates in The Fetish Revisited, Afro-Atlantic gods have a materially embodied social logic of their own, which is no less rational than the social theories of Marx and Freud. Drawing on thirty-six years of fieldwork in Africa, Europe, and the Americas, Matory casts an Afro-Atlantic eye on European theory to show how Marx's and Freud's conceptions of the fetish both illuminate and misrepresent Africa's human-made gods." -- Publisher's description

Contents:

A note on orthography

Part I. The factory, the coat, the piano, and the "Negro slave": on the Afro-Atlantic sources of Marx's fetish

The Afro-Atlantic context of historical materialism

The "Negro slave" in Marx's labor theory of value

Marx's fetishization of people and things

Conclusion to part I

Part II. The acropolis, the couch, the fur hat, and the "savage": on Freud's ambivalent fetish

The fetishes that assimilated Jewish men make

The fetish as an architecture of solidarity and conflict

The castrator and the castrated in the fetishes of psychoanalysis

Conclusion to part II

Pots, packets, beads, and foreigners: the making and the meaning of the real-life "fetish"

The contrary ontologies of two revolutions

Commodities and gods

The madeness of gods and other people

Conclusion to part III

Conclusion: Eshu's hat, or an Afro-Atlantic theory of theory.

Machine generated contents note: pt. I The Factory, the Coat, the Piano, and the "Negro Slave": On the Afro-Atlantic Sources of Marx's Fetish

ch. 1 The Afro-Atlantic Context of Historical Materialism

ch. 2 The "Negro Slave" in Marx's Labor Theory of Value

ch. 3 Marx's Fetishization of People and Things

Conclusion to Part I

pt. II The Acropolis, the Couch, the Fur Hat, and the "Savage": On Freud's Ambivalent Fetish

ch. 4 The Fetishes That Assimilated Jewish Men Make

ch. 5 The Fetish as an Architecture of Solidarity and Conflict

ch. 6 The Castrator and the Castrated in the Fetishes of Psychoanalysis

Conclusion to Part II

pt. III Pots, Packets, Beads, and Foreigners: The Making and the Meaning of the Real-Life "Fetish"

ch. 7 The Contrary Ontologies of Two Revolutions

ch. 8 Commodities and Gods

ch. 9 The Madeness of Gods and Other People

Conclusion to Part III.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Matory, James Lorand. Fetish revisited.

ISBN:

9781478000754

1478000759

9781478001058

1478001054

OCLC:

1022775663