Materia: Money & War

Colin and Harleen have shared the following descriptions of their brief talks: 

 

Colin Drumm (History of Consciousness, UC Santa Cruz) 

This talk will discuss monetary politics and the limitations of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). The discussion will be framed within a dissertation project on the topic of monetary history and political philosophy, with a focus on Mediterranean antiquity and early modern England.

 

Harleen Kaur Bagga (Art History, Stanford) 

Peter Snayers’ topographic-analytical battle paintings present scenes from the long Eighty Years’ War. This presentation examines the twofold nature of Snayers’ treatment of map-like landscapes in his Siege of Breda. Even as the lands are shown to be transformed, conquered, and thereby wounded, they stretch upward to the cosmos, looming precipitously over the troops, besieging rather than being besieged.

 

In preparation for our virtual gathering, we suggest the reading of the following short texts: Stephan Oettermann's The Panorama. History of a Mass Medium (1997) (select. available here) and Shakespeare's Richard II (1597) (Act one, scene IV, and Act two, scene I; text available here). 

 

Register in advance here.