assassination of the rubber tapper leader, Chico Mendes. The photographs and videos provide another dimension of the maker of this "traditional handicraft." They show the rubber tappers and indigenous peoples producing the rubberized fabric and carrying out activities related to their livelihood in the forest, such as cooking, face painting, and ritual. Even the limited information about CVA is provided in the context of its close relationship with the indigenous peoples and rubber tappers. For example, the company provides information regarding the establishment of Institute NAWA and the partnerships it has developed with diverse organizations working with forest communities in the Amazon. It includes the innovative technologies developed by the company to perfect the production of the rubber tappers and the training of local peoples to ensure high quality products. However, it omits the CVA workers and their production meth? ods in Rio de Janeiro that produce the products that are marketed on the website, and there is little about the products themselves. There are pictures and prices of each, but few additional details are provided, and little descriptive information is available regarding the size of the articles, colors available, and their potential use. Through text, photographs, and videos, CVA wraps its commodities in the symbolism of possession and develops a "relationship of identity" between the product and the consumer (Carrier 1995:10). The association between the prod? uct and maker is such that the consumer receives not just a product made from couro vegetal, but a "personal possession" of rubber tappers and indigenous peoples of the Amazon (Carrier 1995:134)?a gift. This argues that even in modern societies characterized by capitalist production, social bonds can be developed between producer and consumer, that commodities can be imbued with the identity of the maker, that alienable commodities can be transformed into things inalienable from the place they come, the people that produce them, the ideals they represent, and the livelihoods and culture in which they are embedded. The cultural broker is fundamental in this process, and the CVA's use of the World Wide Web provides an example of how technological development can open new avenues for binding producers and consumers in social relation? ships. CONCLUSION The case of couro vegetal demonstrates how culture is commoditized and how modern communication media are employed to bring remote cultures into the homes of consumers worldwide. Yet, while a theoretical examination of gifts and commodities (Mauss 1967), the social life of a thing (Appudrai 1986; Kopytoff 1986), and consumptive practices (Carrier 1995) provide instructive frameworks for analyzing the commoditization of culture and the important role of the cultural broker, they do not examine the changes taking place among the