‘Imitation crab’ and the material culture of commodity production

Abstract

Addressing the material culture of commodity production, this paper focuses on different and shifting meanings that are developed within and incorporated into the production of consumer goods. Analysis of the geographical production of individual consumer goods provides insight into the ways that social interactions ascribe meanings to things without erasing the material nature of those things. A case study of the Euro-American ‘imitation crab’ industry is used to examine how producers de- and re-contextualize commodities both materially and symbolically throughout production processes. By distancing imitation crab from both its physical origin as a fish and its social origin as a Japanese food product, firms are able to present this inexpensive and mass-produced commodity as a substitute for an expensive food. Instead of taking commodity forms for granted, this paper takes as its central method the analysis of these forms and their material-symbolic transformations. Cultural economic analysis of material production highlights key moments in the social geography of things, and the importance of these things in both daily life and social relations over time and space.