SUGGESTIONS FOR PROJECT WORK

. T he ‘B iography ’ of a C ommodity Think of a particular consumption item in your own home, such as a television set, a motor cycle, a carpet or a piece of furniture. Try to imagine what the life-history of that commodity would be. Write about it as though you were that commodity and were writing an ‘autobiography’.

What are the circuits of exchange through which it has moved to get to where it is now? Can you trace the social relations through which the item was produced, traded, and purchased? What is its symbolic significance, for its owners – i.e. for you, your family, for the community?

If it could think and talk, what would your television set (or sofa set, or motorcyle…) have to say about the people it meets or sees (like your family or other families or households that you can imagine)?