DO YOU OWN A DIAMOND HOW AND WHY

DO YOU OWN A DIAMOND? HOW AND WHY DID YOU ACQUIRE IT? HAVE YOU EVER GIVEN SOMEONE A DIAMOND? WHAT DOES THE DIAMOND YOU’VE GIVEN OR RECEIVED MEAN TO YOU? HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT’S WHAT IT MEANS? WHERE DID THAT MEANING COME FROM?

MARRIAGE FEMINISM MYTHOLOGY RELIGION SEX-ROLE STEREOTYPING CLASS CONSUMPTION SOCIAL VALUES SOCIAL GLOBALIZATION MONOPOLY INVESTMENT MARKETING ADVERTIZING COMMODIFIATION UNDERGROUND ECONOMY LABOUR ECONOMIC VALUE WAR COLONISALISM IMPERIALISM APARTHIED LAND CLAIMS ENVIRONMENT GOVERNANCE ECONOMIC POLITICAL

Are Diamonds A Commodity? Commodities are things of value, of uniforn quality, that are produced in large quantities by many different producers; the items from each different producer are considered equivalent. Marx says that a commodity is simply any good or service offered as a product for sale on the market. It has a use value, and exchange value and a price.

History of Diamonds

History of Diamonds Louis IX

History of Diamonds Vasco da Gamma

History of Diamonds Hope Diamond Koh-I-Noor Jean-Baptiste Tavernier

History of Diamonds

History of Diamonds

Expression of Betrothal 1477 – Mary of Burgundy received a diamond engagement ring from Maximilian I

Famous Diamonds Hope Diamond Cullinan I Koh-I-Noor

How do you come to value a thing? • • Human values Institutional values Psychology Advertising

A Structural Analysis of Conspicuous Consumption Behaviour – 2006 – Chaudhuri and Majumdar Social Structure Precapitalist. Feudal Primary Objects of Consumption Drivers of Behaviour Slaves, Women, Military and Food Political Powers Consumers Principal Behaviour Dimensions Nobility Pure Ostentation Modern Capitalist Very Expensive Products, e. g. Diamonds Social Power and Status Nobility and Upper-middle Class Ostentation, Signaling and Uniqueness Post Modern Image and Experience Self-expression and Self-image Middle Class and the Masses Uniqueness and Social Conformation

Interviews http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=2 t. Q 3 f. Zk. Tca. A

Class vs. Status

Diamonds: A Focal Point

The Diamond Myth– Enter De Beers “A diamond is lost without its mythology; it becomes nothing but a chunk of clear carbon polished to a high sheen, no better than a piece of common quartz picked from a streambed during a summer picnic. We thirst for diamonds because we believe them to be rare and because they are perceived by others to have a certain power – power from wealth, power from love, power from crackling sexuality, power from kinship with all of the above. The belief in a diamond’s power is its power” (Tom Zoellner )

“A Diamond is Forever” • “Capitalism’s ultimate trick had been pulled off. Somebody had finally learned how to sell rocks” (Tom Zoellner) • "The true genius of De Beers lies in having created a connection, and sustaining in the popular imagination a connection between something that has no value at all. You can't eat it, you can't drive it home, you can't make clothes out of it, you can't build houses out of it, and creating a connection between that valueless item and something that is extremely valuable, which is human love. They created that connection — they made it up — and they've sustained it. “ (Matthew Hart)

The Central Selling Organization: A Benevolent Monopoly? • “Whether the CSO’s measure of control amounts to a monopoly I would not know, but if it does it is certainly a monopoly of a most unusual kind. There is no one concerned with diamonds, whether as producer, dealer, cutter, jeweler or customer who does not benefit from it” (Henry Oppenheimer) • 17 Charterhouse Road: The Sights

Marketing Strategies

Targeting Perceived Markets

Implicit Messages of the Ad Campaigns • “Diamonds are something that men do for women” (Koskoff) • “The male-female roles seemed to resemble closely the sex relations in a Victorian novel. Man plays the dominant, active role in the gift process…it permits the woman to pretend that she has not actively participated in the decision. She thus retains her innocence – and the diamond. ” (Epstein)

Critique of the Ad Campaigns “But the fact that the parody is that obvious, because it lies so close to the reality, is the most damning indictment of the sheer misogyny and contempt for healthy relationships that the diamond industry has based its marketing upon. ” (Anil Dash)

The End of the Monopoly? • Enter the Canadian, Australian diamond producers • Selling diamonds online • Synthetic Diamonds • Anti-trust action against De Beers • De Beers as a private company • The New Image of De Beers

Pricing • “ [gem diamonds] are of no use, but as ornaments; and the merit of their beauty is greatly enhanced by their scarcity, or by the difficulty of getting them from the mine. Wages and profit accordingly make up, upon most occasions, almost the whole of their high price” (Adam Smith) • "Diamonds are of very rare occurrence on the earth's surface, and hence their discovery costs, on an average, a great deal of labour-time. . . If we could succeed at a small expenditure of labour, in converting carbon into diamonds, their value might fall below that of bricks. " (Karl Marx)

More than marketing… • Complex and multi-faceted intersection of several factors • Breach of promise • Victorian Culture • World Politics • Establishment of GIA, 4 C’s criteria,

How Diamonds Are Mined Panda. Pit, Ekati Mine, NWT

How Diamonds Are Mined Artisanal Mining

Where Diamonds Are Mined

Where Diamonds Are Mined

Who’s There Already Dene NWT San Bushmen, Botswana Aboriginal, Australia

Impact Benefit Agreements • preferential employment for aboriginals, • community-based recruitment, • training and support programs, • preferential contracting with aboriginal businesses, • and funding arrangements whereby the company provides the community with money to mitigate any negative impacts on hunting and fishing as a result of mining.

Environment

Blood Diamonds Amputation is Forever http: //www. amnestyusa. org/diamonds/d 4. html

Kimberley Certificate

MARRIAGE FEMINISM MYTHOLOGY RELIGION SEX-ROLE STEREOTYPING CLASS CONSUMPTION SOCIAL VALUES SOCIAL GLOBALIZATION MONOPOLY INVESTMENT MARKETING ADVERTIZING COMMODIFIATION UNDERGROUND ECONOMY LABOUR ECONOMIC VALUE WAR COLONISALISM IMPERIALISM APARTHIED LAND CLAIMS ENVIRONMENT GOVERNANCE ECONOMIC POLITICAL

Living with the Tensions • Re-visiting course concepts • Kanye West example • Meaning is multifaceted and complex