Liquid Modernity: Gold in the Transaction Systems of 21st Century India and the World

How does the ceremonial exchange of gold in rural South India connect with speculation in financial markets? How does the historic preoccupation with a precious metal relate to contemporary central banking?

One tenth of all the gold ever-mined is held by households in India in the form of jewellery. These ornaments are collectively worth approximately half the country’s GDP. The demand for gold strains trade balances and drains foreign currency reserves — and at the same time creates asset holdings that undergird the banking system by serving as secure collateral for loans.

Elizabeth Ferry, professor of anthropology at Brandeis University, and Allison Truitt, professor of anthropology at Tulane University, discuss how materiality, form, history and institutions shape the interface between gold and money in India – and in transaction systems across the world.

Fung Global Fellows Program, PIIRS | View More Events
Co-hosted with: Princeton Institute for International & Regional Studies

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