Shedding Skins

Abstract

This article calls for a reconsideration of the materiality of things in dynamic processes of self-making and personhood. Grounded in research in contemporary urban India, it is argued that it is in the act of divestment that the capacity for the recreation of the self is made most apparent, due to the intimate connection between clothing and the body. Cloth is also a vital element of gift-giving and the re-creation of social networks. The case study of a woman trying to get rid of an unwanted garment highlights the options available and the different regimes of value by which the worth of used clothing can be assessed. These include handing on treasured pieces to family members, recycling within the home, giving to servants, bartering them for new stainless steel pots or burning them for their silver and gold content. The sacrifice and destruction of such intimate objects are the necessary prerequisite for the renewal of self within a network of mutually constitutive person-object relations.