This course traces the vicissitudes of the concept of the fetish, a term foundational to the theorization of value, desire, and belief across multiple intellectual traditions. The course begins with the term's first systematic formulation in Charles de Brosses's 1760 publication On the Worship of Fetish Gods, which introduced fetishism to describe forms of "direct worship, rendered without figuration." The concept brought into focus a set of pressing questions concerning representationalism, materiality, mediation, and magical thinking that troubled Enlightenment rationality. Spanning geographies, histories, and disciplines, the course examines fetishism in relation to the anthropological study of religion, Portuguese colonization in West Africa, and the rise of mercantile capitalism. We then track the term's uptake and transformation in philosophy, political economy, and psychoanalysis, focusing on key figures including Kant, Hegel, Marx, Freud, and Lacan. The course concludes by examining contemporary engagements with fetishism in film theory, new materialism, Women's, Gender, and Gexuality Studies, and Black studies to trace connections between power and embodiment. |