The cultural politics of fur

Fur has been sparking controversies ever since sumptuary laws marked it as a luxury item and as a sign of medieval class privilege. Drawing on wide-ranging historical and contemporary sources, Julia V. Emberley explains how a material good has become both a symbol of wealth and sexuality, and a symptom of class, gender, and imperial antagonisms.

Emberley documents the 1980s confrontations between animal rights activists and native peoples that pitted Lynx, the organization responsible for the high-profile anti-fur ads in Great Britain, against Inuit and Dene societies' claims for a livelihood based on the selling and trading, consumption and production of animal fur. From colonial fur trading to twentieth-century globalization of the fur industry, Emberley analyzes the cultural, political, material, and libidinal values ascribed to fur.