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Cultural Dynamics, Vol. 18, No. 1, 33-60 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0921374006063414

Spirits of ‘Dark Finance’ in Thailand

A Local Hazard for the International Moral Fund

Alan Klima

University of California, USA

Moral discourses condemning Asian finance since the 1997 Thai currency crash have trickled down to small-time financial practices within informal money markets of Thailand. These practices include personal moneylending, gambling, underground lotteries, and number forecasting by spirit mediums. Moral devaluation of these socially complex practices, even inadvertently by anthropologists who might classify them as ‘occult’ or as ‘casino capitalism’, may obscure forms of economy that can question the authority of knowledge that backs international financial liberalization.

Key Words: Asian crisis • gambling • moneylending • spirit mediums • Thailand


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