Material Culture and Authenticity

Rezensionen / Stimmen

"Craciun's research provides an evocative account of how people struggle to negotiate authenticity in a world of inauthentic objects, namely fake branded goods. Through a nuanced and engaging ethnography, the book makes an extremely important contribution to the literature on authenticity and material culture. It will be essential reading for those interested in the experience of authenticity and it's role in mediating personal relationships and identities. - Sian Jones, Professor of Archaeology, University of Manchester, UK

In this rich ethnography of the markets and small textiles manufacturers of Turkey and Rumania, Craciun constructs an alternative theory of brands, arguing that the materiality of branded goods - their shininess, smoothness; their pattern, cut, trimming and bobbling - are more important than the brand itself. A must read for anyone interested in thinking critically about the contemporary theorization of brands, authenticity, consumption, and materiality. - Haidy Geismar, Anthropology and Museum Studies, New York University & Department of Anthropology, University College London

Magdalena Craciun's Material Culture and Authenticity: Fake Branded Fashion in Europe makes for entertaining and meaningful reading ... a valuable addition to the field of material culture and a welcome contribution to Romanian studies. Drawing on nine months of fieldwork in Istanbul, Bucharest, and a small provincial town in southern Romania, Craciun has published one of the few genuinely multi-sited ethnographies of Romania. Highly informative, ethnographically sensitive, and theoretically sophisticated, this book is indispensable reading for the emerging anthropology in and of Romania. - H-Net - Narcis Tulbure"