COMMODITIZING CULTURE: THE PRODUCTION, EXCHANGE, AND CONSUMPTION OF COURO VEGETAL FROM THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON1 Richard H. Wallace California State University, Stanislaus hieve* brasilienais Many communities strive to increase incomes in the global economy by commodi tizing their culture. They do this by selling traditional crafts and clothing imbued with cultural meanings, and performing traditional dances and rituals for tourists. This article, based on the theoretical work of Marcel Mauss and anthropological studies of gifts, commodity exchange, and consumption examines how forest com? munities in the Brazilian Amazon, with the assistance of "cultural brokers," use the World Wide Web to market culture-imbued products fashioned from latex extracted from rubber trees.