The Meaning of Money in China and the United States: The 1986 Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures (Hau - Special Collections in Ethnographic Theory Book 1)

178 Pages·2015·2.495 MB·English

by  Emily Martin

The Meaning of Money
in China and The
UniTed STaTeS
hau
BookS
executive editor
Giovanni da Col

Managing editor
Sean M. Dowdy
editorial Board
Anne-Christine Taylor
Carlos Fausto
Danilyn Rutherford
Ilana Gershon
Jason Throop
Joel Robbins
Jonathan Parry
Michael Lempert
Stephan Palmié
www.haubooks.com
The Meaning of Money
in China and The
UniTed STaTeS
THE 1986 LEwIS HEnRy
MoRGAn LECTuRES
emily Martin
Foreword by Eleana J. Kim
Afterword by Jane I. Guyer and Sidney Mintz
Hau Books
Chicago
© 2015 Hau Books and Emily Martin.
Published as part of the Hau-Morgan Lectures Initiative in
collaboration with the Department of Anthropology at the university
of Rochester.

Cover and layout design: Sheehan Moore
Typesetting: Prepress Plus (www.prepressplus.in)
ISBn: 978-0-9905050-2-0
LCCn: 2014953507
Hau Books
Chicago Distribution Center
11030 S. Langley
Chicago, IL 60628
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Hau Books is marketed and distributed by The university of Chicago Press.
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Printed in the united States of America on acid-free paper.
Contents
Foreword by Eleana J. Kim vii
Acknowledgments ix
List of Figures xi
Introduction 1
1. MonEy AnD vALuE In CHInA 9
2. SPIRITS AnD CuRREnCy In CHInA 59
3. MonEy AnD vALuE In THE unITED STATES 83
4. SPIRIT AnD PRoSPERITy In THE
unITED STATES 109
Afterword by Jane I. Guyer and Sidney Mintz 131
References 141
Index 155

Foreword
The Lewis Henry Morgan lectures at the University of Rochester were
inaugurated in 1962 and have been presented annually ever since. The
lectures commemorate not only Morgan’s contributions to the found-
ing of the University of Rochester and his support for the founding of a
women’s college, but also his legacy in anthropology, as reflected in the
topics of the first three lectures, which focused on kinship (Meyer Fortes,
1963), native North Americans (Fred Eggan, 1964), and technology and
social evolution (Robert M. Adams, 1965).
As the oldest and longest-running such lecture series in North
America, the Morgan Lectures have produced some of the most influ-
ential texts in modern anthropology, to name but a few: Victor Turner’s
The Ritual Process, Marilyn Strathern’s After Nature, and Nancy Munn’s
The Fame of Gawa. A view of the lectures after more than fifty years illus-
trates the ways that anthropologists have moved well beyond Morgan’s
Enlightenment roots, and also how they have expanded upon the topics
that preoccupied him: kinship and social organization, political econo-
my, indigenous peoples, and cross-cultural comparison.
Many of the lectures have culminated in the publication of an origi-
nal monograph. Some of them that have not yet appeared in print will
now enjoy a second life online and in new print editions, thanks to a new
collaboration with Hau, which will bring past, unpublished lectures to
a wider audience. In addition, more recent lectures will be available in
streaming video format on Hau’s website.
viii The Meaning of Money in China and The UniTed STaTeS
We are delighted to present Emily Martin’s public lectures, The mean-
ing of money in China and the United States, which were first delivered
in 1986 and are presented here for the first time in their entirety. These
four lectures combine ethnographic richness, conceptual brilliance, and
cultural critique, connecting with Morgan’s interest in property and his
comparative approach. They offer an illuminating analysis of money, val-
ue, and morality through the lenses of rural Taiwanese social life and the
pursuits of prosperity among a Methodist sect in urban Baltimore. With
the passage of time, they have remained lucid and fascinating. Moreover,
they have proven to be prescient, as debt, money, currency, and finance
capital would become objects of renewed ethnographic attention espe-
cially at the turn of the millennium.
We extend heartfelt thanks to Emily for her graciousness and enthu-
siasm for this project. We also thank Giovanni da Col and Sean Dowdy
for their energetic investment in this collaboration, and are grateful to
their colleagues at Hau for their careful attention throughout the pro-
duction process.
Eleana J. Kim
Rochester, April 2014
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the faculty of the Department of Anthropology
at the University of Rochester, who invited me to give these lectures
in 1986. I am especially grateful to Anthony Carter, who was warmly
encouraging and consistently helpful before, during, and after my visit.
In 2014 Eleana Kim continued this tradition of care and attention, and
I thank her. I am grateful to the editorial staff of Hau for making the
preparation of the manuscript orderly and efficient. In particular, I thank
Sheehan Moore for the cover design and editing of figures, Giovanni da
Col and Robert Foster for organizing the publication and inaugurating
the Hau-Morgan Lectures Initiative, and Jane Guyer and Sidney Mintz
for their new afterword. Justin Dyer’s conscientious and skillful editing
was essential, and Sean Dowdy’s organized management made the pro-
cess flow smoothly. I thank my family—Richard, Jenny, and Ariel—for
their patience during the preparation of these lectures in 1986 and in
again in 2015.
Emily Martin
New York City, February 2015