Chapter One: Introduction

source: http://www.mylpl.info/mardi-gras-bead-art/

The book, Beads, Bodies and Trash by David Redmon is about the author's multi-site, ethnographic journey in which he examines the sensory relationship of Mardi Gras beads to the global political economy and the social environment. Redmon used a camcorder to videotape the multi-sensory experience of the beads as they traveled through a commodity chain from a factory in China to Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans and then their ultimate disposal when the celebration is over.

In the first chapter of the book, Redmon introduced the central thesis of the book "that the senses shape, form and govern the commodity chain of Mardi Gras" (page 7). He elaborated that he "aims to understand the beads as sensory objects that both unit and divide people through the experiences connected to the objects" (page 10).

My first impression of the book consisted of one part intrigue and one part skepticism. In this reflection, I will "speak to" the skepticism first. One of the first things that I noted was that Redmon was a 20 year-old, male university student and my first thought was "it figures" that he would write a book about Mardi Gras beads. I wondered if he somehow was trying to impress girls with his ties to the academic community. As I envisioned him on Bourbon Street with his video camera recording lewd acts and the interviewing people afterwards, it all seemed a bit creepy to me and I questioned his motivations.

On the other hand, I must admit that the first chapter of the book intrigued me and I could relate to Redmon's curiosity about people who perform lewd acts for beads. I thought that the stories that he shared were quite poignant --especially the dichotomy between the desperate lives of the teenage workers at the factory in China and the hedonistic lifestyle of the Mardi Gras revelers on Bourbon Street. One of the things that struck me is how meaningless the lives of the workers were and also how ultimately meaningless the ritual of exchanging beads seems to be to me. I realize that the exchange may be meaningful for some people but truthfully, I struggle to see it from their perspective. Based on my value system, it seemed to me that there were similarities as well as contrasts in the existence of the workers from China and those who exchange beads for sexual acts.

I also noted that Redmon's book is an emergence of his documentary Mardi Gras: Made in China which has won 21 national and international awards. I have made a note to watch the documentary after reading the book.