Fungibility: Florida Seminole Casino Dividends and the Fiscal Politics of IndigeneityRobert Lai

Background

1979: Florida Seminoles open tribally operated high-stakes bingo hall

2006: total gaming revenues reach $1 billion Seminoles have used gaming revenues for:

Various projects Tribal social services Per capita gaming dividends

Purpose of the Cattelino’s Article Explore the fungibility of money through a

case study of Seminole gaming-revenue distributions

Examine how Seminoles selectively exploit the fungibility of money to break or make ties with one another and with non-Seminoles

Fungibility and Indigeneity

Gambling is pure form of capitalism Thus Indian gaming is symbol of modernity Money makes everything fungible

Money is responsible for impersonal human relations

Thus, gaming revenues is seen as a threat to Seminole distinctiveness

How Fungibility of Money Break Ties Gaming revenue could be used to reinforce

Native American cultural differences Dividends can individualize people

For example: Dividends are given to individuals instead of nuclear families or clans

Marx: Money is “universal agent of divorce” Separated things with similar qualities

How Fungibility of Money Break Ties Seminoles “break ties” w/ fungibility of money

by: Reducing restrictions on economic activity that

would subject them to outside control Three ways by which this is possible:

Dividends give them flexibility within federal law Dividends help establish distance from gambling Dividends maximizes autonomy and

noninterference

How Fungibility of Money Makes Ties Can equate and connect things that seem

different Make things comparable and measurable Cash that is spent is same as other person’s When money is made, Seminoles seem less

distinctive as a group

How Fungibility of Money Makes Ties Reinforces long standing leadership practices

Example of the Green Corn Dance Leaders gain legitimacy by sharing resources

Money conducive to Seminole political values Easily divisible Its use is not easily controlled

Community Boundaries and Fungibility Conflicts between fungibility of dividend

money and social/biological issues Disagreements on whether to pay minors “Dividend babies” Outsiders who pretend to be Seminole

Conclusion

The fungibility of money is used by Seminoles to make and break ties

The article is related to the class Giving and exchanging of objects to build

relationships

Reference

Catellino, Jessica. (2009). Fungibility: Florida Seminole Casino Dividends and the Fiscal Politics of Indigeneity. American Anthropologist, 111(2), 190-200.