A true coin of their dreams

Imaginary monies in Haiti

Bibliographic Data

ID2435151
AuthorsFederico Neiburg (0000-0002-9917-8604, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume6
Issue1
Pages75-93
Publication date2016-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHau Journal of Ethnographic Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2049-1115 • E-ISSN: 2575-1433
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.14318/hau6.1.005
OpenAlexW2463953093
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited35

This article examines a singular feature of Haitian monetary practices: the generalized use of a currency that lacks material existence as an object, coin, or banknote-the Haitian dollar. I propose a historical and ethnographic pragmatics of currencies and units of measure to illuminate (a) the dynamic of the daily economic life of Haitian people, mostly of those living in the slums of Port-au-Prince; (b) the geographies of monies and calculation that constitute the highly pluralized Haitian monetary space; and (c) the relational productivity of fictional currencies. Through an ethnographic inquiry into the meanings and uses of such currencies, this article problematizes the relations between materiality and immateriality that cloud our thinking about money, monetary transactions, and calculations

Aesthetics · Art · Banknote · Currency · Economics · Ethnography · Liberian dollar · Linguistics · Macroeconomics · Materiality · Materiality (auditing · Monetary economics · Object (grammar · Productivity · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Philosophy

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