Monetary Effervescence: A Sociological Theory of Religion Applied to Money

This project attempts to answer the question "What holds the construction of money together?" by asserting that it is money's religious nature which provides the moral compulsion for people to use, and continue to uphold, money as a socially constructed concept. This project is primarily descriptive and focuses on the religious nature of money by employing a sociological theory of religion in viewing money as a technical concept. This is an interdisciplinary work between religious studies, economics, and sociology and draws heavily from Emile Durkheim's 'The Elementary Forms of Religious Life' as well as work related to heterodox theories of money developed by Geoffrey Ingham, A. Mitchell Innes, and David Graeber. Two new concepts are developed: the idea of monetary sacrality and monetary effervescence, both of which serve to recharge the religious saliency of money. By developing the concept of monetary sacrality, this project shows how money acts to interpret our economic relations while also obfuscating complex power dynamics in society, making them seem naturally occurring and unchangeable. The project also shows how our contemporary fractional reserve banking system contributes to money's collective effervescence and serves to animate economic acting within a monetary network. The project concludes by outlining multiple implications for religious studies, economics, sociology, and central banking.

Mind majick : a study of the paintings by Harry Smith

Harry Smith was an American artist who worked primarily in the 1940s through the 1980s. Although largely an obscure figure in American culture, Smith is most commonly recognized for his achievements in anthropology and ethnology, experimental cinema, and musicology. This master’s research paper is the first in-depth scholarly study of Harry Smiths’ achievements as a painter. Only a few of Smith’s paintings exist today, which explains why they have received so little attention. However, there is enough work and information available to weave together a chronological study of Smith’s occupation as a painter. In this paper, one will see how Smith’s work and interests in various fields of study influenced his painterly aesthetic, and how he was able to tie together all of his disparate diversions into cohesive and unified visions upon a twodimensional surface.