Abstract

CARABALLO ACUNA, Vladimir. Trade without Fever. Sensory Experiences and Qualitative Oppositions in the Formalization of the Emerald Economy in Colombia. Rev. colomb. antropol. [online]. 2018, vol.54, n.2, pp.9-33. ISSN 0486-6525.  https://doi.org/10.22380/2539472x.459.

For some years the mining and mineral trade in Colombia have undergone a slow process of formalization by the State. In the case of emeralds, this process has been accompanied by the consolidation of Grupo Muzo, the US company responsible for exploiting, carving, and exporting emeralds. In this article I suggest that both processes involve the construction of a semiotic ideology that organizes sensory experiences of the emerald economy around three pairs of opposing qualities: dirty/ clean, hot/cold, and opaque/transparent. To develop the relationship between sensory experiences and ideology, I suggest a methodological approach that merges inputs from my fieldwork and contemporary semiotic anthropology, particularly that which recovers the philosophical pragmatism of Charles Peirce.

Keywords : emeralds; formalization; sensory experiences; semiotic ideology.

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