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consumers,anddińerentformsofcirculation,butofenmutuallyinspir-
ingandinterconnected.
Teconceptproposedhereinisintendedtodevelopatheoretical
frameworkforthestudyofthemanydiversepracticesthat,webelieve,
eludemostofthecategoriesthatfunctionincontemporaryanthropo-
logyandsociology.Emergingwithinmodernindustrialsocieties,they
areneitherfolkloreculture-inthestrictsenseoftheterm-norfolk
culture,andcouldnotfeasiblybeconsideredmanifestationsofeither
uearly”oruprimitive”culturethatearlyanthropologistshadbeenkeen
on.Simultaneously,thepracticesthemselvesdoexhibitstrainsofmag-
icalormythicalthinking,whichsituatethemonthefringesofmodern
systemsofrationality.Someofthesepracticesfailtofullymeetthedefi-
nitionofpopularcultureduetotheirlimitedscopeandrange,5while
others,owingtonewmedia,managetoreachaglobalaudience,tran-
scending,forexample,unewlocalities”oruindigeneity”asconceived
byJamesClińord.6Someemanations,clearlysubversiveincharacter,
cannotbeviewedasstrainsoftop-downmassculture,whileothers
bearnoattributesthatwehavecometoassociatewithresistance-driven
cultures.7Vernacularcultureisnotlimitedtoaspecificcohort(ucul-
tureoftheexcluded”),space(ucultureoftheperiphery”),orcollection
ofphenomena(suchas,forexample,uvernacularmemory,”uvernacu-
larphotography,”oruvernaculararchitecture”);instead,itforegrounds
thedistinctnessoftheculturalcirculationofcontent,thedistributed
characterofpowerandknowledgepredicatedupongrassrootspower
struggles,aswellasthemanydińerentformsofself-organisationthat
areindependentofacentralpowerstructure.
Weareawarethattheconceptweproposeisnotexactlyradicalinits
novelty.Alloftheaforementionedphenomenahavealreadybeeninvesti-
gatedanddescribedbyanthropologists,sociologists,andethnographers;
manywerelinkedbywayofavarietyofconceptualframeworks.Whatwe
believeisnovelandinterestingistheinterpretationofthisdiverserange
ofpracticesandemanationsasaresponsetothealienationresultingfrom
5JohnFiske,UnderstandingPopularCulture(London:Routledge,2011).
6JamesClińord,Returns:BecomingIndigenousintheTwenty-FirstCentury(Cam-
bridge:HarvardUniversityPress,2013).
7See,e.g.,JamesC.Scott,DominationandtheArtofResistance:HiddenTranscripts
(NewHaven:YaleUniversityPress,1990).
VernacularCulture:AnAnthropologyofFailedEndeavours|11
