Introduction: Rough Economies—The Politics and Poetics of Coinage

Abstract

In my introduction, I argued that as circulating signs of state authority, coins assume a key political dimension. But while the materiality of coins helps to pinpoint these particular objects of inquiry, the more abstract quality of “state” introduces additional complexity for its study. So in order to analyze the relation between coinage and state formation, I should first clarify what I mean by the “state,” which as a key political concept has been a subject of scrutiny within several disciplines, including philosophy, anthropology, sociology, political science, and history. Within and across these disciplines, approaches vary: from analyses of the historical development of particular institutions; to comparative studies of states employing different models of governance; to intellectual histories tracing the usage of the term “state,” or the underlying concept, within discourse at various points in time1; to Marxist analyses of the state as a manifestation of class conflict.2 Despite the diversity of definitions and historical accounts of state formation, some common factors do emerge.