Gambling Debt: Iceland's Rise and Fall in the Global Economy
edited by E. Paul Durrenberger and Gisli Palsson
University Press of Colorado, 2014 Paper: 978-1-60732-334-1 | eISBN: 978-1-60732-335-8 Library of Congress Classification HC360.5.G36 2014 Dewey Decimal Classification 336.34094912
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Gambling Debt is a game-changing contribution to the discussion of economic crises and neoliberal financial systems and strategies. Iceland’s 2008 financial collapse was the first case in a series of meltdowns, a warning of danger in the global order. This full-scale anthropology of financialization and the economic crisis broadly discusses this momentous bubble and burst and places it in theoretical, anthropological, and global historical context through descriptions of the complex developments leading to it and the larger social and cultural implications and consequences.
Chapters from anthropologists, sociologists, historians, economists, and key local participants focus on the neoliberal policies—mainly the privatization of banks and fishery resources—that concentrated wealth among a select few, skewed the distribution of capital in a way that Iceland had never experienced before, and plunged the country into a full-scale economic crisis. Gambling Debt significantly raises the level of understanding and debate on the issues relevant to financial crises, painting a portrait of the meltdown from many points of view—from bankers to schoolchildren, from fishers in coastal villages to the urban poor and immigrants, and from artists to philosophers and other intellectuals.
This book is for anyone interested in financial troubles and neoliberal politics as well as students and scholars of anthropology, sociology, economics, philosophy, political science, business, and ethics.
Publication supported in part by the National Science Foundation.
Contributors:
Vilhjálmur Árnason, Ásmundur Ásmundsson, Jón Gunnar Bernburg, James Carrier, Sigurlína Davíðsdóttir, Dimitra Doukas, Níels Einarsson, Einar Mar Guðmundsson, Tinna Grétarsdóttir, Birna Gunnlaugsdóttir, Guðný S. Guðbjörnsdóttir, Pamela Joan Innes, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, Örn D. Jónsson, Hannes Lárusson, Kristín Loftsdóttir, James Maguire, Már Wolfgang Mixa, Evelyn Pinkerton, Hulda Proppé, James G. Rice, Rögnvaldur J. Sæmundsson, Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir, Margaret Willson
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
E. Paul Durrenberger is emeritus professor of anthropology from the University of Iowa and Penn State University and recipient of the Society for Applied Anthropology's Malinowski Award for 2014. He has done fieldwork in tribal and peasant areas of Thailand, Iceland, and the United States and has published a number of academic papers and books, including The Anthropological Study of Class and Consciousness and The Anthropology of Labor Unions (both UPC). Gisli Palsson is professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland and visiting professor at King’s College, London. He is Honorary Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and recipient of the 2000 Rosenstiel Award from the University of Miami. Among his books is Anthropologies of Life: Nature, Culture and Society (forthcoming).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover
Contents
Preface
Introduction: The Banality of Financial Evil
Prolugue: Some Poetic Thoughts Concerning Meltdowns
Before the Beginning
1: Vikings Invade Present-Day Iceland
2: Exploiting Icelandic History
3: Free Market Ideology, Crony Capitalism, and Social Resilience
4: A Day in the Life of an Icelandic Banker
5: Something Rotten in the State of Iceland
After the Crash
6: Overthrowing the Government
7: “Welcome to the Revolution!”
8: Creativity and Crisis
The Magic of “Virtual” Fish
9: Groundtruthing Individual Transferable Quotas
10: Virtual Fish Stink, Too
11: The Resilience of Rural Iceland
12: When Fishing Rights Go Up against Human Rights
The Crash and Communities
13: Schools in Two Communities Weather the Crash
14: What Happened to the Migrant Workers?
15: Icelandic Language Schools after the Crash
16: Charity in Pre- and Post-Crisis Iceland
Summing Up
Epilogue: The Neoliberal Con
Retrospect
References
Index
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Gambling Debt: Iceland's Rise and Fall in the Global Economy
edited by E. Paul Durrenberger and Gisli Palsson
University Press of Colorado, 2014 Paper: 978-1-60732-334-1 eISBN: 978-1-60732-335-8
Gambling Debt is a game-changing contribution to the discussion of economic crises and neoliberal financial systems and strategies. Iceland’s 2008 financial collapse was the first case in a series of meltdowns, a warning of danger in the global order. This full-scale anthropology of financialization and the economic crisis broadly discusses this momentous bubble and burst and places it in theoretical, anthropological, and global historical context through descriptions of the complex developments leading to it and the larger social and cultural implications and consequences.
Chapters from anthropologists, sociologists, historians, economists, and key local participants focus on the neoliberal policies—mainly the privatization of banks and fishery resources—that concentrated wealth among a select few, skewed the distribution of capital in a way that Iceland had never experienced before, and plunged the country into a full-scale economic crisis. Gambling Debt significantly raises the level of understanding and debate on the issues relevant to financial crises, painting a portrait of the meltdown from many points of view—from bankers to schoolchildren, from fishers in coastal villages to the urban poor and immigrants, and from artists to philosophers and other intellectuals.
This book is for anyone interested in financial troubles and neoliberal politics as well as students and scholars of anthropology, sociology, economics, philosophy, political science, business, and ethics.
Publication supported in part by the National Science Foundation.
Contributors:
Vilhjálmur Árnason, Ásmundur Ásmundsson, Jón Gunnar Bernburg, James Carrier, Sigurlína Davíðsdóttir, Dimitra Doukas, Níels Einarsson, Einar Mar Guðmundsson, Tinna Grétarsdóttir, Birna Gunnlaugsdóttir, Guðný S. Guðbjörnsdóttir, Pamela Joan Innes, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, Örn D. Jónsson, Hannes Lárusson, Kristín Loftsdóttir, James Maguire, Már Wolfgang Mixa, Evelyn Pinkerton, Hulda Proppé, James G. Rice, Rögnvaldur J. Sæmundsson, Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir, Margaret Willson
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
E. Paul Durrenberger is emeritus professor of anthropology from the University of Iowa and Penn State University and recipient of the Society for Applied Anthropology's Malinowski Award for 2014. He has done fieldwork in tribal and peasant areas of Thailand, Iceland, and the United States and has published a number of academic papers and books, including The Anthropological Study of Class and Consciousness and The Anthropology of Labor Unions (both UPC). Gisli Palsson is professor of anthropology at the University of Iceland and visiting professor at King’s College, London. He is Honorary Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and recipient of the 2000 Rosenstiel Award from the University of Miami. Among his books is Anthropologies of Life: Nature, Culture and Society (forthcoming).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover
Contents
Preface
Introduction: The Banality of Financial Evil
Prolugue: Some Poetic Thoughts Concerning Meltdowns
Before the Beginning
1: Vikings Invade Present-Day Iceland
2: Exploiting Icelandic History
3: Free Market Ideology, Crony Capitalism, and Social Resilience
4: A Day in the Life of an Icelandic Banker
5: Something Rotten in the State of Iceland
After the Crash
6: Overthrowing the Government
7: “Welcome to the Revolution!”
8: Creativity and Crisis
The Magic of “Virtual” Fish
9: Groundtruthing Individual Transferable Quotas
10: Virtual Fish Stink, Too
11: The Resilience of Rural Iceland
12: When Fishing Rights Go Up against Human Rights
The Crash and Communities
13: Schools in Two Communities Weather the Crash
14: What Happened to the Migrant Workers?
15: Icelandic Language Schools after the Crash
16: Charity in Pre- and Post-Crisis Iceland
Summing Up
Epilogue: The Neoliberal Con
Retrospect
References
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE