The Memory Bank

This is the first of three lectures, the culmination of an undergraduate course given at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2005-6, that consider the question of how anthropologists might approach the formation of world society in the coming century. The other two were posted earlier. The set is: 1. the anticolonial revolution 2. development and 3. globalisation. All three were filmed and edited by Ricardo Leizaola.

Part 1

Part 2

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Part 4

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Part 6

An undergraduate anthropology lecture in six parts given at Goldsmiths College in 2006 (filmed and edited by Ricardo Leizaola). Part 1.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

John C Turmel is a professional gambler, perennial candidate in Canadian elections and a ‘banking engineer’ with a longstanding interest in currency issues. Visit his website. He recently got hold of an article I wrote in 2002 comparing the Argentinian peso and the euro: A tale of two currencies, Anthropology Today, 18. 1: 20-22. The result is a reading and commentary in two parts posted on YouTube, lasting ten minutes each. These may be of more interest to me than to the casual watcher, but I post them here for the combination of media (vlog and reading), as well as for their content.

Part 1

Part 2

A lecture with discussion given in the School of Development Studies, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban in November 2009.

Machines, money and people in the formation of a global society. A lecture in five parts given at Goldsmiths, University of London on 23rd October 2007. Filmed and edited by Ricardo Leizaola.

Part 1

The rest of the lecture can be found here:

• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

A lecture in five parts given at Goldsmiths College, London on November 26th. Filmed and edited by Ricardo Leizaola.

Part 1

The rest of the lecture can be found here:

• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

One in a series of World Summits on Free Information Infrastructures (WSFII) took place 1-3 October 2005 at Limehouse Town Hall in London. A programme of talks, demonstrations and discussion on free networks, alternative currencies, civic information, infra-red networks, open geodata and mapping, was preceded by a week of workshop ‘streams’ including a book writing project : ‘Wireless for Development’.

Keith Hart spoke about the political possibilities of alternative currencies. In three Youtube segments, he discusses his online project the Memory Bank and the relationship between intellectual property, the information age and the emergence of new monetary systems (and value).

Filmed and edited by Ricardo Leizaola.

Part 1

The rest of the lecture can be found here:

• Part 2
• Part 3

Has been published in a new open source journal created by the Association of Social Anthropologists, ASAOnline.

See the original keynote lecture of the Rethinking Economic Anthropology conference held at the LSE on 11th and 12th of January 2008 here as streaming video.

World society has been formed as a single interactive network in our time. Universal means of communication are now available to give expression to universal ideas. This essay explores the role of markets and money in the human economy. They are intrinsic to the extension of society from the local to a global level. By calling the economy human we put people first, making their thoughts, actions and lives our main concern. ‘Humanity’ is a moral quality of kindness and, since theoretical abstraction is impersonal, economic anthropology should pay attention to the personal realm of experience. But ‘humanity’ is also a collective noun, meaning all the people who have existed or ever will. So the human economy is inclusive in that sense too, requiring us to engage with society in its impersonal dimensions. Money mediates the personal and impersonal extremes of social existence. These reflections lead us to Kant’s Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View (1798). ‘Anthropology’ is indispensable to the making of world society. It would then mean whatever we need to know about humanity as a whole if we want to build a more equal world. This usage could be embraced by students of history, sociology, political economy, philosophy, geography, cultural studies and literature, as well as by some anthropologists.

This is an undergraduate lecture on Anthropology and Globalisation (in five parts) that I gave at Goldsmiths College, London in 2006. Filmed and edited by Ricardo Leizaola.

Part 1

The rest of the lecture can be found here:

• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

Russian comment on YouTube:

Not many people even politicians can talk about serious matters for such a long time without looking at the written text.