Anthropology for Sale

Abstract

This introduction to the Anthropology for Sale special issue makes a case for renewed attention to the selling and salescraft in anthropology. Rather than presume to know in advance what kinds of ethics and interests underpin the moment of sale the contributors to this Special Issue ask how sales work allows people to perform themselves as moral actors. In this introduction we situate the moment of sale as a moment of possibility charged with play, charisma, spin and seduction, reflect on the language and rhetoric of selling, consider the presence of kinship, gender, class, caste in the marketplace, and emphasise the precariousness of selling in contexts of global economic uncertainty.