The Memory of Trade

"With profound insight, empathy, and theoretical sophistication, Patricia Spyer traces out the complex intertwinings among identity, global commerce, local ritual, and national politics. This book is a masterful demonstration of how much of modernity's paradoxes, romance, and uncanny displacements best come into sight when viewed from the perspective of the supposed margins."--Webb Keane, author of "Signs of Recognition: Powers and Hazards of Representation in an Indonesian Society"