William Pietz

William Pietz (born 1951) is an intellectual historian and political activist. He is known for his scholarship related to the concept of fetishism.

Biography

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Pietz completed an interdisciplinary Masters in Philosophy and Political Theory from the New School for Social Research,[1] and his PhD in the History of Consciousness at the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1988.[2] He taught at Pitzer College, the University of California at Santa Cruz and Georgetown University.[3]

Fetishism

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Pietz is best known for his account of the colonial origins of the concept of fetishism. It was the subject of his dissertation[2] as well as a series of articles for the journal Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, entitled "The Problem of the Fetish."[4][5][6] A collection of Pietz's fetishism essays, including previously unavailable material, was published under that title by University of Chicago Press in 2022.[7]

His work in this area has been characterized as "brilliant"[8] and "fundamental".[9] Referring to his trilogy, David Graeber has characterised Pietz as "one of those rarest of people – an independent scholar whose ideas have had a profound effect on the academy".[10]

Works

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  • 'Bosman's Guinea: the intercultural roots of an Enlightenment discourse', Comparative Civilizations Review 9 (Fall 1982), pp. 1-22.
  • 'The problem of the fetish I', Res No. 9 (1985), pp. 5-17
  • 'The problem of the fetish II: The origin of the fetish', Res No. 13 (1987), pp. 23-45
  • 'The problem of the fetish. IIIa, Bosman's Guinea and the enlightenment theory of fetishism', Res No. 16 (1988), pp.105-123
  • 'The phonograph in Africa: international phonocentrism from Stanley to Sarnoff'. In Derek Attridge et al, eds., Post-Structuralism in History, Cambridge University Press, 1987
  • 'The “Post-Colonialism” of Cold-War Discourse', Social Text No. 19/20 (1988), pp.55-75
  • (ed. with Emily Apter) Fetishism as cultural discourse. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1993.
  • 'Fetishims and materialism: the limits of theory in Marx'. In Pietz and Apter, Fetishism as cultural discourse, 1993, pp. 119-151
  • 'Capitalism and Perversion: Reflections on the Fetishism of Excess in the 1980s', positions 3:2 (Fall 1995), pp.537-565
  • 'Fetish', in Robert S. Nelson and Richard Schiff, eds., Critical Terms for Art History, Chicago, 1996
  • 'Death of the deodand: accursed objects and the money value of human life', Res: Anthropology and aesthetics 31 (1997), pp.97-108
  • 'The Future of Treason: Political Boundaries in the Information Age', Res No. 32 (1997), p. 64-76
  • 'Afterword: how to grow oranges in Norway'. In Patricia Spyer, ed., Border Fetishisms: Material Objects in Unstable Spaces, Routledge, 1998, pp.245-52.
  • 'The fetish of civilization: sacrificial blood and monetary debt'. In Peter Pels & Oscar Salemink (eds.) Colonial Subjects: Essays on the Practical History of Anthropology, University of Michigan Press, 1999
  • 'The sin of Saul'. In Bruno Latour & P. Weibel, eds., Iconoclash: beyond the image wars in science, religion and art, MIT Press, 2002.
  • 'Material considerations: on the historical forensics of contract', Theory, Culture and Society 19:5-6, 2002
  • 'Introduction: Decency and Debasement', in Tani Barlow (ed.) New Asian Marxisms, 2002
  • Le fétiche: généalogie d'un problème. Paris: Kargo & L'éclat, 2005
  • 'Person'. In Donald S. Lopez Jr., ed., Critical Terms for the Study of Buddhism, University of Chicago Press, 2005.
  • William Pietz, The Problem of the Fetish, ed. Francesco Pellizzi, Stefanos Geroulanos, and Ben Kafka. University of Chicago Press, 2022

References

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  1. ^ "William Pietz". The Globalization Project at the University of Chicago. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b Pietz, William (1988). The origin of fetishism: A contribution to the history of theory (Ph.D. diss.). University of California, Santa Cruz. ProQuest 303717649.
  3. ^ Robert S. Nelson; Richard Shiff (2010). Critical Terms for Art History, Second Edition. University of Chicago Press. p. 490. ISBN 978-0-226-57169-0.
  4. ^ Pietz, William (Spring 1985). "The Problem of the Fetish, I". RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics. 9 (9). The President and Fellows of Harvard College acting through the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology: 5–17. doi:10.1086/RESv9n1ms20166719. JSTOR 20166719. S2CID 164933628.
  5. ^ Pietz, William (Spring 1987). "The Problem of the Fetish, II: The Origin of the Fetish". RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics. 13 (13): 23–45. doi:10.1086/RESv13n1ms20166762. JSTOR 20166762. S2CID 151350653.
  6. ^ Pietz, William (1988). "The Problem of the Fetish, IIIa: Bosman's Guinea and the Enlightenment Theory of Fetishism". RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics. 16 (16): 105–124. doi:10.1086/RESv16n1ms20166805. ISSN 0277-1322. JSTOR 20166805. S2CID 171174997.
  7. ^ The Problem of the Fetish.
  8. ^ Paul Arnett; William Arnett (2001). Souls Grown Deep: Once that river starts to flow. Tinwood Books. p. 469. ISBN 978-0-9653766-3-1.
  9. ^ Peter Melville Logan (2008). Victorian Fetishism: Intellectuals and Primitives. SUNY Press. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-7914-7728-1.
  10. ^ Graeber, David (2001). "Review of Money and Modernity: State and Local Currencies in Melanesia; Border Fetishisms: Material Objects in Unstable Spaces". American Ethnologist. 28 (3): 741–743. doi:10.1525/ae.2001.28.3.741. ISSN 0094-0496. JSTOR 3095111.
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