A growing fascination with flows of people and commodities poses fresh theoretical and methodical challenges to anthropology. This collection of essays considers how conceptions and roles of commodities may change in response to widening spheres of economic interaction and exchange.

TodayOs growing fascination with flows of people, commodities, technology, capital, images and ideas across national and other boundaries poses fresh theoretical and methodological challenges to anthropology. Commodities offer a particularly useful window on globalization because they, unlike electronically conveyed capital, transport cultural messages. These ideological or symbolic transfers are of particular interest to economic anthropology. This collection considers how conceptions and roles of commodities may change in response to widening spheres of economic interaction and exchange.