ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to map the problem of dispossession, that is, the parting of people and their things that occur at the end of the consumption cycle. Dispossession presumes possession, so having and keeping are matters that require preliminary attention. Not all the goods that a person acquires—by finding, buying, receiving, or creating—become possessions. The consumer economy, it has been observed, grows ever more skilled at the provision of merchandise that flees possession—that needs frequent replacement. Consumption, thus, often requires additional productive work to realize possession. When the balance tips, there is still labor in the outplacement effort. Keeping or releasing, there is always work to do. The placing of things is the responsibility of consumption, and it sometimes seems a curse. Object-centered analyses are comfortable with production and consumption being all of a piece because production and consumption are sequential human acts upon the same thing.
