Mediated money and social relationships among Hong Kong cross-boundary students

Abstract

A growing body of scholarship has called for understanding money as a form of media. Through examining the monetary practices of Hong Kong cross-boundary students, this chapter assesses the potential anthropological significance of mediated money as it is used to enact and maintain social relationships across boundaries. By applying an anthropological approach to everyday monetary practices, we show that money’s mediating qualities can be heterogenous in nature and therefore must be understood contextually. The variegated configurations of media and money described in this chapter illustrate both how payment frequently fulfils the role of communication, but also how media is largely inseparable from exchange. We argue that an approach that pays attention to these dual aspects can make a valuable contribution to media anthropology by foregrounding the unique kinds of human engagements and social relationships that are produced when monetary transactions occur both within and across regions.