COLONIAL MONEY IN AFRICA

TALK FOR MEMBERS OF THE ASHMOLEAN

Tue 15 Oct, 3–4pm

Online only

An exclusive online talk for Members of the Ashmolean

Booking is essential. See below

This event takes place online via Zoom.

With Shailendra Bhandare, Ashmolean Curator of South Asian and Far-Eastern Coins and Paper Money and Curator of the museum’s major exhibition Money Talks:, Art, Society & Power

Join curator Shailendra Bhandare to discover how colonialism brought ‘modern’ coins and banknotes to Africa, and in the process disrupted and reconfigured traditional monetary systems with deep cultural and social roots.

Much like the introduction of ‘modern’ forms of industry, transport and agriculture, colonial currency was engineered for economic extraction and exploitation. In this talk, Shailendra will explore the role of imagery on colonial money in perpetuating the colonial narrative. He will reveal how its use as a tool and a symbol of control is often overlooked but offers fascinating insights into how the colonial powers ‘imagined’ Africa as well as providing a key means of learning about our past.

Afro Money: 500-Afro, Mansour Ciss (Kanakassy), 2004, digital print © Mansour Ciss, Haupt Collection

Shailendra is Assistant Keeper, South Asian and Far-eastern Numismatics and Paper Money Collections, a Fellow of St Cross College and a member of Faculty of Oriental Studies. He started his career as a Numismatist with a visiting fellowship at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. He was then appointed as a post-doctoral fellow of the Society for South Asian Studies and worked as a curator in the British Museum on the coins of Later Mughals and the Indian Princely States. He was appointed as curator of coins in the Ashmolean Museum in 2002.

The talk will be recorded and shared with ticketholders following the event.