Description: Global history is predicated on connections and exchange: how connections between far-flung people, places, and objects are forged through a variety of exchanges. As world history has matured as a field, its practitioners have found the movement of commodities between peoples, places, and time a fruitful vehicle for research and teaching. Studies of 'bulk' items like salt, spices, coffee, and other globally-traded commodities abound, but few scholars have examined the role of luxury goods from a global perspective. This anthology charts the many different contexts in which luxury objects have been used across the globe, ranging from the social practices linked to these objects to their production, exchange, and consumption, as well as how these practices varied over time and space and how different societies attributed diverse meanings to the same objects. Using luxury goods as a conduit, Luxury in Global Perspective enriches our understanding of global history.
Brief description: Karin Hofmeester is senior researcher at the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam and Professor of Jewish Culture at Antwerp University.
Review Quotes: 'By identifying 'luxuries' with the shopping habits of rich people, historians may miss noticing how important these goods were in shaping world trade and mass consumption. This collection of impressively researched studies restores to luxuries their real significance in global history.' Tirthankar Roy, London School of Economics and Political Science