Ursula M Dalinghaus

Narrative

BA Anthropology and German, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. I am currently writing research proposals for dissertation research at the Deutsche Bundesbank (German Central Bank) in Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig, Germany. I am especially interested in theorizing points of intersection between official narratives and expertise about currency, public experiences with, and understandings of currency, and currency as a material object. In particular I ask how currency becomes part of broader political and social projects like German unification and European integration, at the same time that money is declared to be neutral and separate from particular social and political interests. The historical context of German unification, European monetary union and transferral of institutions to the former East will inform my analysis of debates about recent economic reforms underway in Germany. My work is grounded in diverse bodies of anthropological and interdisciplinary literatures on money, exchange and value; European integration; post-socialist transition; post-colonial studies; governmentality and the state; actor-networks; and critical theories of representation.