Book Nomination: Ivory

John Frederick Walker. Ivory's Ghosts: The White Gold of History and the Fate of Elephants. (New
     York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2009)


     I chose to take a look at Ivory because it is unlike most of the other commodities we have seen in that it comes from animals rather than plants. (Cochineal was the exception) I think this difference is often taken for granted because Ivory comes from large mammals and not plants which makes a world of difference in cultural life of Ivory and it has had quite the cultural life. Ivory has been treasured since pre-history for its smooth texture and milky-white color. Its presence in artistic medium crosses millennia and continents. Ivory could be found everywhere from baptismal fonts carved in Benin, ivory piano keys from London, and Japanese hanko. It was no niche commodity. And if this book accomplishes anything it is that it exposes what almost seems like a universal human value placed upon the tusks of animals, whether they be from walruses or elephants. This book examines the cultural values placed on Ivory, the fetish process it underwent in the 19th century, and the impact that legacy has had on human and animal life.

     John Frederick Walker is not an academic but a conservationist who has published one previous book in addition to being featured in The New York Times and National Geographic. Despite the work not being as academically oriented than some of the others we have read it nonetheless explores familiar themes like fetishization and the commodity chain. Walker shows us the curious tale behind slaves carrying tusks out of the Congo to be transported to abolitionist comb manufacturers in New England all the while Ivory became more associated with eroticism (a far cry from its medieval association with purity) than with the annual slaughter of more than forty thousand elephants necessary to supply the burgeoning global trade. The last third of the book deals with the issues of conservation and the enforcement of the 1989 Ivory Ban. It is here that the book becomes controversial because it suggests that allowing some Ivory to reach the market would decrease the incentive for the horrendous poaching that still threatens these amazing creatures.

This book is a good look at an under studied global commodity that presents issues that are unfortunately still relevant today.