Money
I just remembered that I still need to circulate Walker’s excellent article about the tension between the immaterial and material qualities of money that Jaryn introduced in class in week 0. Walker demonstrates how in the Democratic Republic of Congo, when citizens lose trust in their government, their focus shift from the sign value to the material value of money that wears out over time. This, in turn, results in the development of businesses that repair damaged money and transform these notes back into capital .
Walker, J. 2017. Torn Dollars and war-wounded francs: Money fetishism in the Democratic Republic of Congo. American Ethnology 44 (2): 288-299. WALKER.pdf
