%0 Journal Article
%T Trashion treasure: A longitudinal view of the allure and re
%A Wendy S Shaw
%J Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
%@ 1472-3433
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0263775818756643
%X As the saying goes, one person¡¯s trash is another¡¯s treasure. Analyses of current reuse movements focus generally on a politics of uncoupling from capitalist consumption traps and commodity fetishism. The perspective presented here considers other motivations by tracing desires for specific kinds of objects, from the past. I consider current reuse debates from a subcultural perspective, of inner-urban living in the late 1970s and 1980s. With the assistance of autoethnography, I delve into this urban subculture, known for its reliance on Do-It-Yourself. This included practices of Do-It-Yourself housing, furnishings, clothing and music, and the reliance on the reuse of preowned materials which, in turn, were often also discarded as part of this transient way of living. I therefore highlight the practice of disposable fast-fashion enabled through reuse. This included the display of ¡®tasteless¡¯ object d¡¯art. With my personal history as a backdrop, I highlight the complexity of reuse politics that sometimes reaches beyond anti-consumerist imperatives. Specific reference is made to now highly collectable objects such as ¡®Aboriginalia¡¯ and other pieces emblazoned with caricatures of ¡®noble savages¡¯. The current collectability of these now rare objects, points to a subtle and often hidden politics of racialised nostalgia
%K Reuse
%K racialised nostalgia
%K kitsch
%K commodity fetishism
%K environmentalism
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0263775818756643