Paper short abstract:

Some jewels play main roles in life circles and mark the exchange of social status between those who donate and who receive. My research focuses in symbolic and political meanings, circulation, transformation, ownership and transmission codes related to jewelry in family circles in Brazil.

Paper long abstract:

Having as subject the relationship between people and things, my research focuses on symbolic meanings, affective logics, and circulation, transformation, ownership, and transmission codes related to jewelry in family circles in South of Brazil. Those are ornaments valuated through affective settings, and their meanings, uses, and itineraries vary among different social groups. Departing from narratives triggered by artifacts passed on through generations, I explore elements of production and reproduction of genealogical memory and prestige that become symbols of certain groups. On the basis of preliminary statements of heirs and fragments of inventories, I infer that logics which conduct acquisition, circulation, and uses of theses goods perpetuate and legitimize a social status; that the jewels biographies interfere in the way memory is passed on; and that individual and collective identities connect the living and the dead through this class of objects.