Following the (unfollowable) thing: Methodological Considerations in the Era of High Globalization

The past few decades have seen many studies that ‘follow-the-thing’ by tracing an object back to its origins. In carrying out my own thing-following, however, I found the objects I chose were at times unfollowable, their trajectories highly changeable and punctuated by numerous ruptures. This article explores how we might progress with a methodology born in an age of early globalisation, when tracing things was easier and more surprising than today. It suggests that attempting to understand the unfollowable bits of the commodity trail may be an apposite way to go about such studies, especially in the light of the fact that globalisation is now a well-established phenomenon and capitalism’s precarious nature shows no sign of abating.