Title: The cultural politics of fur
First published: 1997
Description: 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.
Subjects: Animal welfare, Animals, Clothing trade, Fur trade, Moral and ethical aspects, Moral and ethical aspects of Animal welfare, Moral and ethical aspects of Clothing trade, Moral and ethical aspects of Fur trade, Treatment, Animal rights activists
LC classification: HD9944.A2 E45 1997