Semester:
Offered:
Evridiki Georganteli
Money is everywhere. As both an abstract construct and a material entity, money makes the world go around. Since before the invention of writing, money has been a common facet of everyday life, informing how we think and act. The course explores how societies across human history have made, used, and valued money in divergent ways. We will consider money as an object of aesthetic appreciation, an ethical problem, an architect of social relations, an environmental disruptor, a tool of political resistance, and much more. How has coinage design functioned as a political, religious, and cultural symbol? Is money a measure of value, and how does it align with other potential values, such as religious, moral, and aesthetic ones? Is it ethically neutral or an instrument of moral vice or virtue? What were the debates surrounding the rise of paper money? How has money been used as a tool of revolutionary movements and political resistance? Does money get recycled, and what is the environmental cost of different money forms today? What are the links between art, literature, theater, cinema, and money? Be part of a thrilling journey of exploration that will take us from the economic systems of Ancient Mesopotamia to 21st-century digital currencies. Weekly sections in the Harvard Art Museums, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and the Baker Library of Historical Collections at the Harvard Business School will offer us the chance to handle and discuss Harvard's world-class numismatic holdings.