Striking stories: a political geography of euro coinage
Money is a powerful ideological messenger because of its omnipresence in everyday landscapes. Recent research on banknotes shows that images printed on money support the production and maintenance of national narratives, thus helping to legitimize power structures in the finest tradition of ‘‘banal nationalism.’’ We expand this scope by examining the carefully balanced coexistence of supranational cartography and national imagery on 120 euro coins. Our empirical study demonstrates the significance of metal money as a multi-faceted tool of political identity projects within the European Union. The study shows how recent contributions to visual methodologies are useful in the interpretation of monetary iconography. The findings are applicable to postage stamps and street names, the messages of which are similarly controlled by political elites. 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Under the new circ um stances,the working conditions of undergraduates have changed tremendously,and t he students' work is confronted with new challenges.How to strengthen and improv e the college students' ideological and political work has become a top priority task in colleges.This paper mainly studies the issue by analyzing its changing conditions,updating the educational concepts,es-tablishing the ideological conc ept of taking the students as the dominant factor,strengthening the cultural est ablishment of colleges,and adhering to keeping with the times,opening up and inn ovating.