11-11-2010

...The Tupperware party, an invention more in the history of Tupperware than the production of Poly-T, because it created a community of sacred allegiance. The Tupperware party was a radical innovation in direct marketing. But it was also an improvisation on basic patterns and processes in the production of sacred space and time.

Chidester, David. Authentic Fakes. Berkeley: University of California, 2005.

In this passage, Chidester is essentially channeling Durkheim, claiming that the true "sacred of tupperware" emerged from the formation of the group, which centers itself around the Tupperware. In this example, he would argue that the Tupperware is totemic; a point of unity bringing people together. However, later Chidester seems to synthesize Eliade into the equation, arguing that the Tupperware becomes a symbol for the sacred of domesticity.