Consumption is one way individuals effectively deal with their feelings of anomie, or social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values, in contemporary, postmodern society. Through the purchase and use of particular products, consumed objects create or produce personal identities. A specialized form of consumption, collecting, in this case ethnographic textile collecting, plays a key role in the quest for self-authentication and community in contemporary Western culture. In this paper, twelve collectors of ethnographic textiles were interviewed to better understand the manners and meanings of collecting as a specialized form of consumption. The collectors of ethnographic textiles used their collections as a way to both express their personal identity and become part of a larger community of textile collectors. Arnould and Price's (2000) theoretical model of authenticating acts and authoritative performances guided the analysis of the spoken word of the collectors interviewed.
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