This summer, I participated in a research project with Professor Catherine Desbarats associated with a chapter in her upcoming monograph Money and Empire in New France, discussing cross-cultural exchange. Initially we were interested in identifying preexisting and established local monetary practices in the St Lawrence River region prior to European contact.
I began by reading David Graeber’s sweeping works, Debt: the first 5,000 years, The Dawn of Everything: a New History of Humanity, as well as his influential articles “On Social Currencies and Human Economies: some Notes on the Violence of Equivalence” & “Beads and Money: notes Toward a Theory of Wealth and Power. In them I found criticism of a popular belief, fundamentally associated with Western-centric meta-narratives about the “progress” of humanity, about money. Specifically, that barter economies preceded the emergence of commodity money. Instead, Graeber, argues that anthropological & archeological evidence does not support the existence of human bartering economies. What he does find are people exchanging what he calls social currencies, such as wampum, not to buy and sell goods, but to transform social relationships by arranging marriages, compensating homicides, and negotiating treaties.
Graeber’s wide-ranging discussion of currencies such as dentalium shells, feathers, iron bars, and raffia cloth gradually expanded my geographic purview to include North America, West Africa and eventually Central and South America. I then began an exploration of monetary practices in these different contexts, and their attendant socio-political associations. Ultimately, it was my responsibility to survey the literature to produce a detailed annotated bibliography for Professor Desbarats. I was also tasked with using the materials I documented to develop a research poster, synthesizing various authorial interpretations, to share with the McGill community at the annual Arts Research Internship Award (ARIA) research conference.
The highlights of this research project for me were fourfold. Firstly, developing my understanding of money and politics. Professor Desbarats emphasized an interdisciplinary approach to the research. Reading about money through the lenses of sociology, history, anthropology, archeology, economics and political theory, to name a few, equipped me with neat terminology & conceptual tools to better evaluate the arguments I encountered. This training streamlined the process of re-evaluating my positions based on new evidence. Secondly, preparing for and engaging in insightful conversations with Professor Desbarats. This part of the project was the most rewarding because it was when Professor Desbarats challenged me to be creative and open-minded in my interpretations and more precise and culturally sensitive in my arguments. Thirdly, another highlight has been seeing the annotated bibliography develop content-wise. Seeing my work grow in front of me has felt validating and encouraging in that it epitomises the time and effort put into this project and serves as a testament to my newfound ability to discuss themes associated with this project. Furthermore, it is stimulating to circle back to my notes and reading material, to identify connections and more importantly to see what struck me initially, what I overlooked initially and to reflect on this confirmation bias. Finally, being able to discuss these topics with my close family and friends has felt very inspiring as it provides for stimulating conversation material and expands our understanding of the world around us.
When I initially learned about ARIA, I was eager to take advantage of the opportunity to engage in in-depth investigation of a particular research topic with a professional to learn best practices. The timeline and funding structure of the program was ideal as it provided me the time to read widely and get a thorough handle of the discourse. Furthermore, the personal face time with Professor Desbarats provided me with ample opportunity to discuss complex material, pose questions, and request assistance. This dynamic diverges greatly from regular courses in which students experience tight office hours slots and limited time to conduct research projects. In this case, however, the wrap around support provided by Professor Desbarats and the Arts Internship Office genuinely cultivated my intellectual curiosity and reaffirmed by intention to pursue graduate studies. I would encourage all McGill Arts students interested in improving their academic skills, further developing a professional relationship with a professor and enjoying an intellectually stimulating and relatively self-directed summer to apply for ARIA.
I’d also like to extend deep gratitude to the Anti-Black Racism ARIA Undergraduate Award donors for funding this project.
