Folk Culture and Nation-Building in the Less than Developed World: A Study on the Visual Culture of Citizenship

Abstract

This chapter traces the evolution and transformation of folk visual culture as expressed on paper currencies of the capitalist periphery from the last quarter of the nineteenth century until the eve of the Second World War. It focuses on the emergence and evolution of folk banknote iconography in the less than developed world. It aspires to contribute to the understanding of nationalism as an aesthetic experience. The banknote has a subtle ‘nation-branding’ effect. The fact that folk culture became the dominant aesthetic contour of depreciated currencies—in the aftermath of war, the preparation for war, or during military struggle—is anything but accidental. The chapter argues that the physical spaces, like a public square, and virtual spaces, like the surface of a banknote, exist in relation to each other, customising the visual culture of each and every citizen in each and every nation-state. Keywords:banknotes; citizenship; folk visual culture; nationalism; visual culture