The Impact Of Money On An African Subsistence Economy

Ethnography Review Paper Throughout history, money and the nature money have been defined and redefined from economist to economist, however, at its foundation, money serves as a standard of valuation, a means of exchange, and a mode of payment. Of course, not all societies subscribe to this rigid definition of currency because cultures have existed with economies based on barter or currencies that don’t meet the conventional interpretation of money, and in the case of the Tiv culture, both general and special purpose currencies have existed for the trading of different types of goods. In Paul Bohannon’s article, â€Å"The Impact of Money on an African Subsistence Economy†, he argues that the introduction of a general purpose currency fundamentally changed the nature of Tiv culture because it altered their previously multi-centric economy and changed their traditional methodology of trading and valuation of categories of goods. Bohannon’s ethnography of the Tiv culture and their e conomic history opens with a simple analysis of contemporary definitions of money and an explanation of the concept of â€Å"general purpose money†. According to Bohannon’s article, economists have frequently approached the topic of currency incorrectly when it came to economies in more foreign cultures because they lacked more â€Å"elastic† definitions of currency. Not all cultures have a singular, â€Å"general purpose† currency that fits all three of the aforementioned foundations of money because like the Tiv,Show MoreRelatedThe Benefits of a Multicultural America1460 Words   |  6 PagesPeople have migrated for thousands of years moving into different habitats and spreading their influences over one another. David Burgos a writer for adage, a website that specialize in advertising states, â€Å"I bet most of you thought about Blacks or African Americans and Hispanics. 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