Books by Magdalena Craciun
theanthro.art, 2023
Nowadays fossil-based plastics are ubiquitous. They are in our clothes, buildings, cars, and road... more Nowadays fossil-based plastics are ubiquitous. They are in our clothes, buildings, cars, and roads. Accumulations of very small pieces of plastics, called micro-plastics and nano-plastics, are present everywhere in nature and various organisms, including humans, with effects whose gravity we are only now beginning to understand. In addition, fossil-based plastics are almost indestructible, being considered the “new immortals,” next to other man-made materials such as cement or radioactive waste. Then, in our “plasticized” world, how do we relate to plastics and how do we learn to approach its dangerous and almost eternal presence? These are some of the questions of an anthropology of plastics that is now beginning to emerge in the academia. A possible answer, based on ongoing ethnographic research, starts from the notion of “regime of value” proposed by the anthropologist Arjun Appadurai. Since their entry into Romanian homes, timidly in the years after the Second World War, and then more and more frequently, plastics have been understood and experienced through different symbolic and economic regimes of value. Currently, various regimes co-exist, the most recent ones recasting the value of plastics in both positive and negative terms.
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East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures, 2020
Investment in an “education with an edge” in the form of costly extracurriculars is a growing phe... more Investment in an “education with an edge” in the form of costly extracurriculars is a growing phenomenon in urban post-socialist Romania. To a certain extent, this is a typical strategy of middle-class reproduction, more intensely pursued in contexts where middle-class reproduction is imagined as uncertain. However, in a post-socialist context, a sense of fragility permeates both the experience of the present and imaginings of the future. Despite its political idealisation and programmatic support, Romania’s middle class remains of modest dimensions and is extending itself to live a “good enough life.” Parents’ realisation that their children might experience even more difficulties than themselves prompt them to use their economic capital to acquire as many and varied cultural and social resources as possible. An ethnographic investigation of this experience from both the parents’ and children’s perspectives throws light on the ongoing processes of class formation under post-socialist conditions of possibility.
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East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures, 2020
In this special section, drawing from ethnographic research undertaken in Estonia, Russia, Romani... more In this special section, drawing from ethnographic research undertaken in Estonia, Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria between 2013 and 2017, we argue that in post-socialist Europe the notions of “middle class” and “good life” have become interchangeable. Related dialectically, each can be substituted for the other as a signifier of a field of aspirations and possibilities. In the current period of persistent economic crisis, deepening social inequality, and growing political turmoil, this interchangeability is a significant ideational conjunction, making it possible to declare middle-class aspirations inherently ethical and thus depoliticise them. Equally important, this interchangeability sustains the continuous idealisation of middle-classness in the face of accumulating frustrations, disappointments, and disillusionments among both the aspiring and the more established middle classes. Nevertheless, our interlocutors differ in their understanding of the kind of “good life” that middle-classness supports. Beyond individual horizons of expectations and socio-economic positions, these differences stem from their experience of recent economic and political crises and from their location at the more, and the less, prosperous local and global “margins.” These differences illustrate the fluidity of these signifiers, which unify an otherwise heterogeneous set of meanings, practices, and relationships.
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Bloomsbury Academic, 2017
The subject of religion and dress in Turkey has been debated at great length both in academia and... more The subject of religion and dress in Turkey has been debated at great length both in academia and the media. Through in-depth ethnographic research into the Turkish fashion market and the work of a category of new comers, namely headscarf-wearing fashion professionals, Islam, Faith and Fashion examines entrepreneurship in this market and the aesthetic desirability, religious suitability, and ethical credibility of fashionable Islamic dress.
What makes a fashionable outfit Islamically appropriate? What makes an Islamically appropriate outfit fashionable? What are the conditions, challenges and constraints an entrepreneur faces in this market, and how do they market their products? Is the presumed oxymoronic nature of Islamic fashion a challenge or a burden? Through case studies and ethnographic portraits, Craciun questions the commercialization of Islamic dress and tackles the delicate and often incompatible relationship between clothing worn in recognition of religious belief and clothing worn purely because it is fashionable.
This timely analysis of fashion, religion, ethics, and aesthetics presents dress as a disputed and a contested locus of modernity. Islam, Faith and Fashion will be essential reading for students of fashion, anthropology, and material and visual culture.
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Bloomsbury Academic, 2014
The study of material culture demonstrates that objects make people just as much as people make, ... more The study of material culture demonstrates that objects make people just as much as people make, exchange and consume objects. But what if these objects are, in the eyes of others, only fakes? What kind of material mirror are people looking into? Are their real selves really reflected in this mirror? This book provides an original and revealing study into engagements with objects that are not what they are claimed and presumed to be and, subsequently, are believed to betray their makers as well as users.
Drawing upon an ethnography of fake branded garments in Turkey and Romania, Material Culture and Authenticity shows how people can make authentic positions for themselves in and through fake objects.
The book will be of interest to students and scholars working in the fields of anthropology, material culture and cultural studies as well as to general readers interested in ethnographic alternatives to biographies of famous fakers and fakes.
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Papers by Magdalena Craciun
The subject of religion and dress in Turkey has been debated at great length both in academia and... more The subject of religion and dress in Turkey has been debated at great length both in academia and the media. Through in-depth ethnographic research into the Turkish fashion market and the work of a category of new comers, namely headscarf-wearing fashion professionals, Islam, Faith and Fashion examines entrepreneurship in this market and the aesthetic desirability, religious suitability, and ethical credibility of fashionable Islamic dress. What makes a fashionable outfit Islamically appropriate? What makes an Islamically appropriate outfit fashionable? What are the conditions, challenges and constraints an entrepreneur faces in this market, and how do they market their products? Is the presumed oxymoronic nature of Islamic fashion a challenge or a burden? Through case studies and ethnographic portraits, Craciun questions the commercialization of Islamic dress and tackles the delicate and often incompatible relationship between clothing worn in recognition of religious belief and clothing worn purely because it is fashionable. This timely analysis of fashion, religion, ethics, and aesthetics presents dress as a disputed and a contested locus of modernity. Islam, Faith and Fashion will be essential reading for students of fashion, anthropology, and material and visual culture.
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East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures, 2020
Investment in an “education with an edge” in the form of costly extracurriculars is a growing phe... more Investment in an “education with an edge” in the form of costly extracurriculars is a growing phenomenon in urban post-socialist Romania. To a certain extent, this is a typical strategy of middle-class reproduction, more intensely pursued in contexts where middle-class reproduction is imagined as uncertain. However, in a post-socialist context, a sense of fragility permeates both the experience of the present and imaginings of the future. Despite its political idealisation and programmatic support, Romania’s middle class remains of modest dimensions and is extending itself to live a “good enough life.” Parents’ realisation that their children might experience even more difficulties than themselves prompt them to use their economic capital to acquire as many and varied cultural and social resources as possible. An ethnographic investigation of this experience from both the parents’ and children’s perspectives throws light on the ongoing processes of class formation under post-sociali...
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Ethnos, 2019
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World Art, 2017
Observant Muslim women all over the world experiment with materials and styles, find inspiration ... more Observant Muslim women all over the world experiment with materials and styles, find inspiration in past and present, Eastern and Western fashions, and create new types of covered dress. This fashionable veiling has also become the topic of heated debates. This article builds on an ethnographic study that highlights the debate over fashionable veiling within Turkey. According to the conceptualisation of the revivalist movement, veiling is an ethical practice of self-cultivation. The dress hypostatises a particular religiously sanctioned aesthetics (an aesthetics of the proper form); and the practitioner commits herself to a religiously defined conduct (an aesthetics of the correct posture). Fashionable veiling is (also) a sartorial practice of self-enhancement. It demonstrates experimentation within a religiously sanctioned aesthetics; and the practitioner’s public behaviour evidences both conformity with and transgression of religiously defined conduct. The article approaches fashion as a realm of the aesthetic and finds guidance in anthropological discussions of ‘Islamic art’, ‘ordinary ethics’ and ‘everyday Islam’. I argue that the debate over fashionable veiling among religious conservatives provides insight into what kind of relationship there can be between ethics and aesthetics, and who is qualified to define it. Religious conservatives emphasise that in veiling the only possible and permissible relationship between ethics and aesthetics is one of subordination of aesthetics to ethics. In contrast, headscarf-wearing fashion professionals, the most visible practitioners of this type of veiling, claim that in fashionable veiling the relationship between ethics and aesthetics is one of identity, namely, aesthetics as ethics.
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World Art, 2017
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Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2015
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Journal of Material Culture, 2014
Based on research on clothing consumption in a provincial Romanian town, this article focuses on ... more Based on research on clothing consumption in a provincial Romanian town, this article focuses on bobbling (pilling) and on reflections on its appearances and progression. Bobbling is considered an index of a faulty or decaying materiality, and an index of usage and, possibly, carelessness and hardship. It limits an individual’s ability to project a desired self. It hints at an individual’s inability to present a renewed self. It not only disrupts a common process of value creation through the act of dressing, but also exposes a disputed process of value creation through the consumption of certain objects. It foregrounds a predisposition to equate the value of objects with the value of people. It affects a sense of self-worth. The author demonstrates that a preoccupation with bobbling reflects deeper concerns and frequent deliberations over value in postsocialist Romania.
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The study of material culture demonstrates that objects make people just as much as people make, ... more The study of material culture demonstrates that objects make people just as much as people make, exchange and consume objects. But what if these objects are, in the eyes of others, only fakes? What kind of material mirror are people looking into? Are their real selves really reflected in this mirror? This book provides an original and revealing study into engagements with objects that are not what they are claimed and presumed to be and, subsequently, are believed to betray their makers as well as users. Drawing upon an ethnography of fake branded garments in Turkey and Romania, Material Culture and Authenticity shows how people can make authentic positions for themselves in and through fake objects. The book will be of interest to students and scholars working in the fields of anthropology, material culture and cultural studies as well as to general readers interested in ethnographic alternatives to biographies of famous fakers and fakes.
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Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2012
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East European Politics and Societies: and Cultures, 2020
In this special section, drawing from ethnographic research undertaken in Estonia, Russia, Romani... more In this special section, drawing from ethnographic research undertaken in Estonia, Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria between 2013 and 2017, we argue that in post-socialist Europe the notions of “middle class” and “good life” have become interchangeable. Related dialectically, each can be substituted for the other as a signifier of a field of aspirations and possibilities. In the current period of persistent economic crisis, deepening social inequality, and growing political turmoil, this interchangeability is a significant ideational conjunction, making it possible to declare middle-class aspirations inherently ethical and thus depoliticise them. Equally important, this interchangeability sustains the continuous idealisation of middle-classness in the face of accumulating frustrations, disappointments, and disillusionments among both the aspiring and the more established middle classes. Nevertheless, our interlocutors differ in their understanding of the kind of “good life” that middle-...
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Heritage Turkey, Dec 1, 2012
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Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2014
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REPAIR, BROKENNESS, BREAKTHROUGH Ethnographic Responses Edited by Francisco Martínez and Patrick Laviolette, 2019
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The Anthropology of Dress and Fashion. A Reader, 2019
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Ethnos, 2019
A seller’s sincerity is important for the viability of his/her business. This claim is substantia... more A seller’s sincerity is important for the viability of his/her business. This claim is substantiated ethnographically through a study of the challenges fashionably veiled designer-entrepreneurs face in Turkey. Their fashionable veil raises suspicion. Their critics claim they are not as devout as they want to appear. The performance of their piety through public-facing social media further nourishes mistrust. Their critics think this is driven by pragmatic calculation rather than religiosity. They respond to this criticism, arguing for the sincerity of their piety and striving to make their businesses work. The ethical dimension in any act of selling, as either reality or expectation, is hence brought to the foreground. Simultaneously, by emphasising the importance of the digital in the proclamation or, on the contrary, trivialisation of faith, a line of thinking that connects sincerity, piety and the material in the discussion of Islam is updated through the addition of the (im)material.
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Books by Magdalena Craciun
What makes a fashionable outfit Islamically appropriate? What makes an Islamically appropriate outfit fashionable? What are the conditions, challenges and constraints an entrepreneur faces in this market, and how do they market their products? Is the presumed oxymoronic nature of Islamic fashion a challenge or a burden? Through case studies and ethnographic portraits, Craciun questions the commercialization of Islamic dress and tackles the delicate and often incompatible relationship between clothing worn in recognition of religious belief and clothing worn purely because it is fashionable.
This timely analysis of fashion, religion, ethics, and aesthetics presents dress as a disputed and a contested locus of modernity. Islam, Faith and Fashion will be essential reading for students of fashion, anthropology, and material and visual culture.
Drawing upon an ethnography of fake branded garments in Turkey and Romania, Material Culture and Authenticity shows how people can make authentic positions for themselves in and through fake objects.
The book will be of interest to students and scholars working in the fields of anthropology, material culture and cultural studies as well as to general readers interested in ethnographic alternatives to biographies of famous fakers and fakes.
Papers by Magdalena Craciun
What makes a fashionable outfit Islamically appropriate? What makes an Islamically appropriate outfit fashionable? What are the conditions, challenges and constraints an entrepreneur faces in this market, and how do they market their products? Is the presumed oxymoronic nature of Islamic fashion a challenge or a burden? Through case studies and ethnographic portraits, Craciun questions the commercialization of Islamic dress and tackles the delicate and often incompatible relationship between clothing worn in recognition of religious belief and clothing worn purely because it is fashionable.
This timely analysis of fashion, religion, ethics, and aesthetics presents dress as a disputed and a contested locus of modernity. Islam, Faith and Fashion will be essential reading for students of fashion, anthropology, and material and visual culture.
Drawing upon an ethnography of fake branded garments in Turkey and Romania, Material Culture and Authenticity shows how people can make authentic positions for themselves in and through fake objects.
The book will be of interest to students and scholars working in the fields of anthropology, material culture and cultural studies as well as to general readers interested in ethnographic alternatives to biographies of famous fakers and fakes.
Department of Sociology
National School of Political Sciences and Administration
Bucharest
Research Seminars in Material, Visual and Digital Culture
Department of Anthropology, UCL
Abstract
This paper discusses fake brands as a form of fakes rather than brands and argues they are particularly ‘good to think with’ (Levi-Strauss 1964). They have the potential of provoking existential questions about being true or false to one’s self in relation to the wider context of one’s life. This potential comes from their peculiar nature. They are ‘sort of’ something, as opposed to claiming to be absolutely something. They are first order simulacra, the distance between original and fake being clearly marked (Baudrillard 1993). It is at the level of such differences that fakes have a potential of being intrinsically about the contradictions, half-measures and compromises that seem to characterise the world the majority of people actually live in. People like to live in ‘good faith’ (Sartre 1958), to think of themselves as being what they regard as truthful about who they are and how the world around them is. If the world itself is not an ideal but a constant compromise that only ever partially realises any ideal, then, in some ways, the fake is entirely truthful to how the world truly is. This makes fake brands particularly fruitful to think through contemporary social life and particular issues of self-fashioning, authenticity and legitimacy. This argument is illustrated using the case of an Istanbulite trader, who committed himself to fake brands because they allow him to be true to who he wants to be and because they are true to how he sees the world as truly being.