Community currencies have been traditionally studied in relation to their capacity to deal with issues such as poverty, social exclusion and sustainable development (Seyfang, 2001). They constitute interesting empirical sites where the creation of new money takes place. For instance, it has been argued that new monies embody a different set of values (Thrift and Leyson, 1999) also named ‘moral monies’ (Lee, 1996). They involve different typologies such as Local Exchange Trading Systems and Timebanks among them. Local Exchange and Trading Schemes (LETS) have been defined as “trading networks using a form of currency produced by non-state actors” (North 2005, p. 221).
While some authors emphasise the counter-hegemonic character of community currencies, others understand it as a complementary solution to the current system. For example, according to Blanc (1998) and Peacock (2013), community currencies could complement and adjust to the national monetary system and not to disconnect from it. However, for Goméz (2009, p.22) community currencies are a challenge to ‘national monies’ and are seen as the local, embedded solution to the global, impersonal capitalist market. But, community currencies are not homogeneous. Previously, Zelizer (1994) has argued that people create multiple forms of money in response to social complexity and the heterogeneity of social relations. Community currencies present differences in terms of functioning, in terms of norms, practices and devices. For example, we find examples of Timebanks that use time as their currency (e.g. time could be debited/credited virtually or through coupons) and of LETS who may use shells and stones as their currency or monies similar to the national currency such as the Brixton pound.
Furthermore, it is important to understand how community currencies fit in the present context considering a number of challenges of our times - monetary cuts, erosion of the welfare state, euroscepticism, new technological advances, nationalism, unemployment, and the disruption in financial institutions with the entrance of fin-tech start-ups.
In this special issue, we wish to broaden the debate on community currencies and shed light on aspects of the community currencies literature that have received little attention. We invite to explore community currencies from multiple disciplines and multilevel theories, with different types of methodologies and research designs. To illustrate, we are interested in the study of new monies from sociological, political and anthropological lens, gender studies or managerial theories that may explain their emergence and/or fall, but also could devise better ways of succeeding in the implementation of such currencies. We are also interested in the study of their role in transitions to sustainability and post-growth economies and their impact on community development. Finally, we are interested on cross cultural comparisons ofcommunity currencies, novel case studies and empirical evidence from under-
researched empirical contexts.
Contributions are invited, but not limited, to the following topics: - Community currencies and new technologies
- Community currencies and gender theory
- Community currencies and the public administration
- The cultural significance of new monies
- Practice theory and community currencies
- Institutionalization and community currencies
- Social interactions and community currencies
- Managerial learnings of community currencies
- Community currencies and transitions to sustainability
- Community currencies and community development
- Cross-cultural studies and comparison of community currencies
- Historical view of community currencies
- Online community currencies
Information about online submission of manuscript and formatting requirements can be found here.
Articles submitted to the Editorial Committee must not have been previously published and may not be simultaneously under consideration in other academic journals. Submission details:
Full paper submission: December 15, 2017
This Special Issue will be published in June 2018.
For further information contact the editors of the special issue Eleni Papaoikonomou
(eleni.papaoikonomou@urv.cat) and Carmen Valor (cvalor@comillas.edu). Author guidelines:
http://www.revista-rio.org/index.php/revista_rio/about/submissions#authorGuidelines |
Revista Internacional de Organizaciones
