The Semiotics of Banknotes and Coins - (Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics) by Sebastián Moreno Barreneche (Hardcover)

About the Book

Studies currency from a semiotic perspective, with a focus on how it reproduces and produces social meanings in the public sphere of the countries where it is used.

Book Synopsis

This book uses semiotics to study the design of a selection of banknotes and coins currentlycirculating in the American and European continents.
Its purpose is to argue how the iconography used to decorate them draws on pre-existing social discourses and meaning.

Moreover, it aims to show how currency design is an enunciative praxis and hence, an activity shaped by cultural conventions that can be approached as a specific discursive genre.

In a nutshell, the book demonstrates how, beyond their economic function, banknotes and coins serve as the material support for a visual type of cultural semiosis linked to the nation and the state. The units of any currency system can be approached as visual texts expressing contents linked with specific social discourses and ideas. Since these texts are created and regulated by the state, they convey meanings that relate to discourses about statehood and, with it, the nation.

Informed by analyses of the United States dollar, the Canadian dollar, the British pound sterling, the Swiss franc, the Brazilian real, the Uruguayan peso, the Argentinean peso and the euro, the book highlights the relevance of studying currency design in the scholarly efforts to understand the discursive construction of states and nations.

Review Quotes

A fascinating and insightful exploration of the hidden meanings embedded in currency design. Sebastián Moreno masterfully unveils the semiotic layers that shape our perception of money, culture, and national identity. A must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of art, national history, and finance.
Kristian Bankov, Professor, New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria

In addition to money serving as the language of commerce, Barreneche shows how throughout history the iconography of coin and paper money has played an important role in shaping our collective conceptualization of culture, politics, and society. In impressive detail, he vividly explains the meaning of the symbols decorating monies from across the globe. This is a fascinating, illuminating, and sometimes surprising book.
Carl Wennerlind, Professor of History, Columbia University, US

With all the potential confusion people encounter over finance, it is a pleasure to read such a pellucid analysis of money's material tokens. Moreno's semiotic investigation of banknotes and coins is exemplary in its clarity, convincingly showing how the often unconsidered items of quotidian economic exchange are bound up with issues of nationhood, heritage, memory and culture. The volume should be read by anyone who ever uses currency.
Paul Cobley, Emeritus Professor in Language and Media, Middlesex University, UK

About the Author

Sebastián Moreno Barreneche is Associate Professor of Culture and Society at the Department of International Studies of the Faculty of Management and Social Sciences of Universidad ORT Uruguay, and an active researcher of Uruguay's National Researchers System (SNI).