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Magical Capitalism pp 191–213Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Business of Inspiration: A Magical Technology of Prefiguration

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Abstract

This chapter explores processes of inspiration as a magical technology of prefiguration by which creative agents in cultural production deal with the uncertainty of the future. Based on fieldwork among fashion designers, the argument is that processes of inspiration constitute an arational form of reasoning which, as magic, works toward desirable ends in ways that go beyond dominant rationalist conceptions. More specifically, it is argued that fashion designers’ search for inspiration is anchored in an animistic ontology, which forms the basis for a shamanic practice by which they become possessed—or in-spired—by the zeitgeist or ‘spirit of the time’. This entails that they acquire a distinctive sense of the time, which turns them into prophetic agents able to prefigure and act on the future.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Although it has been shortened and slightly rewritten, the main part of the presentation and argument in the following three sections has previously been published in the Journal of Business Anthropology (Vangkilde 2015).

  2. 2.

    The fieldwork took place over eight months in 2007 in a European fashion company in the high-end fashion market, primarily in a subsidiary in Switzerland.

  3. 3.

    While the conception of the designer as shaman may perhaps appear surprising, it has also been taken up by Moeran, who presents a detailed discussion of various connections between a designer and a shaman (see Moeran 2015).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Kasper Tang Vangkilde

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  1. Kasper Tang Vangkilde
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Correspondence to Kasper Tang Vangkilde .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

    Brian Moeran

  2. Gabelli School of Business Fordham University, New York, NY, USA

    Timothy de Waal Malefyt

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Vangkilde, K.T. (2018). The Business of Inspiration: A Magical Technology of Prefiguration. In: Moeran, B., de Waal Malefyt, T. (eds) Magical Capitalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74397-4_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74397-4_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74396-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74397-4

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