Social studies of money have prompted a renewed look at the intersections between economic and non-economic worlds. The assumed universal fungibility of money has been displaced by the notion of monetary plurality: materially and symbolically heterogeneous, monies contribute to producing varied social realities. The study of the new monetary landscape that is transforming current societies enlightens wide-raging social phenomena such as power, wealth, trust, affect, intimacy, inequality, morality, sexuality, and political passions. The work of sociologist Viviana Zelizer has provided unparalleled impetus for the renewal of the study of money. Zelizer’s scholarly work over more than four decades has transformed our analytical schemes and our empirical curiosity on how monies work. This workshop brings together scholars who use, mobilize, apply, expand, transform, or critique Zelizer’s approaches to money in various empirical settings and academic contexts around the world. When ideas and frameworks travel and meet different empirical realities and academic communities, they change. If money is not one, but rather entails a multiplicity of practices, relationships, and meanings, then it is much less one when examined in different times and places. A global talk of money stimulates the emergence of new perspectives about one of the main transformative institutions of current society. 

Sponsors:

Location: Glickman Center, Patton Hall (RLP) 1.302B.

Organizers: Daniel Fridman (University of Texas-Austin, USA) and Ariel Wilkis (Conicet-UNSAM, Argentina)

Thursday, February 27, 2025 

9.30-10 AM First Day Opening 

Ariel Wilkis (Conicet-UNSAM, Argentina)

Daniel Fridman (University of Texas-Austin, USA)

10-11.45 AM Panel 1

Moderator: Daniel Fridman (University of Texas-Austin)

Cultural meanings and moral contestations around desirable spending of money on and in Ukraine 

Alya Guseva (Boston University, USA)

Discussant: Mariana Luzzi (Conicet-UNSAM, Argentina)

Who do we trust with our money? 

Gözde Güran (Georgetown University, USA)

Discussant: Jeanne Lazarus (CNRS-Science Po, France)

11.45 AM-1.00 PM Lunch Break

1.00 PM-2.45 PM Panel 2

Moderator: Frederick Wherry (Princeton University, USA)

Crowdfunding Care: A Hostile World?

Sibel Kusimba (University of South Florida, USA)

Discussant: Eldad Levy Guerrero (Rollins College, USA)

Relational work in intergenerational transfers: How Polish parents use the money to steer the life of their adult children 

Marta Olcoń-Kubicka (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland) 

Discussant: Sibel Kusimba (University of South Florida, USA)

2.45-3.15 PM Break

3.15-4:15 PM Panel 3

Moderator: Mariana Luzzi (Conicet-UNSAM, Argentina)

The political sociology of money 

Jeanne Lazarus (CNRS-Science Po, France)

Discussant: Mechele Dickerson (University of Texas-Austin Law School, USA)

Friday, February 28, 2025 

9.15 AM meet

9.45-10 AM Second day opening

Ariel Wilkis (Conicet-UNSAM, Argentina)

Daniel Fridman (University of Texas-Austin, USA)

10-11.45 AM Panel 4

Moderator: Upasana Garnaik (University of Texas-Austin, USA)

The Meanings of Government Monies: Disaster Money and Historic Heritage Money in Mexico

Daniel Fridman (University of Texas-Austin, USA)

Eldad Levy Guerrero (Rollins College, USA)

Benjamin Ibarra-Sevilla (University of Texas-Austin School of Architecture, USA)

Discussant: Gözde Güran (Georgetown University, USA)

The social meaning of the Argentinian Dollar (Mariana Luzzi and Ariel Wilkis)

Mariana Luzzi (Conicet-UNSAM, Argentina)

Ariel Wilkis (Conicet-UNSAM, Argentina)

Discussant: Alya Guseva (Boston University, USA)

11.45 AM-1.00 PM Lunch break

1.00-2.45 PM Panel 5

Moderator: Ariel Wilkis (Conicet-UNSAM, Argentina)

The gender of money and debt

Isabelle Guérin (IRD-CESSMA, France)

Discussant: Marta Olcoń-Kubicka (Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)

Relational Work in Family Disputes in India 

Upasana Garnaik (University of Texas-Austin, USA)

Discussant: Isabelle Guérin (IRD-CESSMA, France)

2.45-3.15 PM Break

3.15-4 PM Closing and collective reflection

Ariel Wilkis (Conicet-UNSAM, Argentina)

Daniel Fridman (University of Texas-Austin, USA)