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A human economy puts people first in emergent world society. Money is a human universal and now takes the divisive form of capitalism. This book addresses how to think about money (from Aristotle to the daily news and the sexual economy of luxury goods); its contemporary evolution (banking the unbanked and remittances in the South, cross-border investment in China, the payments industry and the politics of bitcoin); and cases from 19th century India and Southern Africa to contemporary Haiti and Argentina. Money is one idea with diverse forms. As national monopoly currencies give way to regional and global federalism, money is a key to achieving economic democracy.
List of contents
PART I: INTRODUCTION Introduction: Money in a Human Economy
Keith Hart Chapter 1. Capitalism and our Moment in the History of Money
Keith Hart PART II: THINKING ABOUT MONEY Chapter 2. Money is Good to Think: From "Wants of the Mind" to Conversation, Stories and Accounts
Jane Guyer Chapter 3. The Shadow of Aristotle: A History of Ideas about the Origins of Money
Joseph Noko Chapter 4. Luxury and the Sexual Economy of Capitalism
Noam Yuran PART III: THE EVOLUTION OF MONEY TODAY Chapter 5. The Future of Money is Shaped by the Family Practices of the Global South
Supriya Singh Chapter 6. Remittance Securitization in the Hemisphere of the Américas: From Wall Street to Calle Principal and Back
David Pedersen Chapter 7. Cross-border Investment in China
Horacio Ortiz Chapter 8. Value Transfer and Rent: Or, I Didn't Realize My Payment Was Your Annuity
Bill Maurer Chapter 9. The politics of Bitcoin
Nigel Dodd PART IV: MONEY IN ITS TIME AND PLACE Chapter 10. A South Asian Mercantile Model of Exchange: Hundi During British Rule
Marina Martin Chapter 11. Money and Markets for and Against the People: The Rise and Fall of Basotho's Economic Independence, 1830s-1930s
Sean Maliehe Chapter 12. Gender and Money in the Argentinian Trueque
Hadrien Saiag Chapter 13. An Imaginary Currency: The Haitian Dollar
Federico Neiburg Bibliography
Index
About the author
Keith Hart’s approach to the theory and practice of money combines state and market, but with people in mind, while focusing on how the communications revolution is transforming money. He is professor of anthropology emeritus at Goldsmiths London and co-directed the Human Economy Program at the University of Pretoria, 2011-2018. His books include The Memory Bank (aka Money in an Unequal World), The Hit Man’s Dilemma, The Human Economy: A Citizen’s Guide, Economic Anthropology: History, Ethnography, Critique and Economy For and Against Democracy.
Summary
A human economy puts people first in emergent world society. Money is a human universal and now takes the divisive form of capitalism. This book addresses how to think about money (from Aristotle to the daily news and the sexual economy of luxury goods); its contemporary evolution (banking the unbanked and remittances in the South, cross-border investment in China, the payments industry and the politics of bitcoin); and cases from 19th century India and Southern Africa to contemporary Haiti and Argentina. Money is one idea with diverse forms. As national monopoly currencies give way to regional and global federalism, money is a key to achieving economic democracy.
Additional text
“Hart’s human economy paradigm is changing the terms of debate in economic anthropology. This volume, which contains essays by the world’s leading experts on new ways of thinking about money, explores fundamental questions about the human condition in today’s unequal world.” · Chris Gregory, Australian National University
