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The Potentials of Feicui : Indeterminacy and Determination in Human-Jade Interactions in South-West China

Møller, Henrik Kloppenborg LU (2017) In International Studies in Social History p.104-117
Abstract
Based on fieldwork among jade traders and carvers in Ruili, this chapter discusses the realization of economic and spiritual potentials of a type of jade called feicui翡翠 as determination of a partially indeterminate material. Some traders posit feicui as an empty container for economic value, while the material constitutes spiritual fullness especially for carvers. An opaque layer of surface skin constitutes feicui as partially indeterminate by hiding its content. This invites investments of labor, meaning, and value that necessitate intimate human interactions with feicui in determining and realizing its economic and spiritual potentials. Exploring how its material properties configure the determination of feicui, the chapter adds a... (More)
Based on fieldwork among jade traders and carvers in Ruili, this chapter discusses the realization of economic and spiritual potentials of a type of jade called feicui翡翠 as determination of a partially indeterminate material. Some traders posit feicui as an empty container for economic value, while the material constitutes spiritual fullness especially for carvers. An opaque layer of surface skin constitutes feicui as partially indeterminate by hiding its content. This invites investments of labor, meaning, and value that necessitate intimate human interactions with feicui in determining and realizing its economic and spiritual potentials. Exploring how its material properties configure the determination of feicui, the chapter adds a post-anthropocentric perspective to a structuralist analysis of human-jade interactions as mutually constitutive of both entities. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
jade, gemstones, Potentials, Indeterminacy, Determination, China Studies, Ruili, trade, carving
host publication
Emptiness and Fullness : Ethnographies of Lack and Desire in Contemporary China - Ethnographies of Lack and Desire in Contemporary China
series title
International Studies in Social History
editor
Mikkel, Bunkenborg and Bregnbæk, Susanne
pages
14 pages
publisher
Berghahn Books
external identifiers
  • scopus:85049481846
ISBN
978-1-78533-581-5
978-1-78533-580-8
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Henrik Kloppenborg Møller is a PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology, Lund University, and holds a B.A. and M.Sc. from the Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen. Møller has done fieldwork among vendors of counterfeit fashion goods in Shanghai, and among jade traders in Southwest China and Northern Myanmar. Møller’s research interests include trade, ethnicity, social organization, and economic development in the Sino-Myammar borderlands, as well as relations between materiality, knowledge, authenticity, value, and identity in China.
id
5705ebb7-d89e-4c36-8857-f221e5cf2dda
alternative location
http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/BregnbaekEmptiness#toc
date added to LUP
2017-07-27 08:20:43
date last changed
2024-02-29 19:05:18
@inbook{5705ebb7-d89e-4c36-8857-f221e5cf2dda,
  abstract     = {{Based on fieldwork among jade traders and carvers in Ruili, this chapter discusses the realization of economic and spiritual potentials of a type of jade called feicui翡翠 as determination of a partially indeterminate material. Some traders posit feicui as an empty container for economic value, while the material constitutes spiritual fullness especially for carvers. An opaque layer of surface skin constitutes feicui as partially indeterminate by hiding its content. This invites investments of labor, meaning, and value that necessitate intimate human interactions with feicui in determining and realizing its economic and spiritual potentials. Exploring how its material properties configure the determination of feicui, the chapter adds a post-anthropocentric perspective to a structuralist analysis of human-jade interactions as mutually constitutive of both entities.}},
  author       = {{Møller, Henrik Kloppenborg}},
  booktitle    = {{Emptiness and Fullness : Ethnographies of Lack and Desire in Contemporary China}},
  editor       = {{Mikkel, Bunkenborg and Bregnbæk, Susanne}},
  isbn         = {{978-1-78533-581-5}},
  keywords     = {{jade; gemstones; Potentials; Indeterminacy; Determination; China Studies; Ruili; trade; carving}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{104--117}},
  publisher    = {{Berghahn Books}},
  series       = {{International Studies in Social History}},
  title        = {{The Potentials of Feicui : Indeterminacy and Determination in Human-Jade Interactions in South-West China}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/28803466/The_Potentials_of_Feicui.pdf}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}