On October 7 at 5:00 PM (Tbilisi time), the Anthropology Research Center and the Doctoral Program in Anthropology at Ilia State University will host an online lecture by Rikki Brown, PhD student at the University of California, Santa Cruz:

Title
“The Tokenization of Tradition. FinTech and Kvevri Winemaking.”

Abstract
The financial technological (FinTech) industry is growing in popularity, with its cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) now becoming part of our transactional communities and identities (Swartz 2020). In Georgia, FinTech has entered into an unassuming space: the wine industry. In this talk, I examine the unlikely intersection of FinTech and wine, paying particular attention to kvevri winemaking. I argue that many of FinTech’s ideologies — particularly the protection of cultural heritage through secure technologies — in turn lead to the commodification of kvevri and Georgian cultural heritage, furthering the technocapitalistic economic practices already at work in our technologically advanced globalized world.

Bio
Rikki is a PhD Candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research examines the wine industry in Sakartvelo (the country of Georgia) and how politics, place, and authenticity of wine are negotiated within the context of geopolitical tensions. Her research has been funded by the Fulbright-Hays Program, the National Science Foundation, Title VIII fellowships, and the American Research Center of the South Caucasus. Rikki received her bachelor’s degree in Russian Studies from Grand Valley State University and her master’s in social sciences from the University of Chicago. She has over fifteen years of hospitality experience in the United States and has worked and traveled throughout Eurasia.

Event Details

• Working language: English
• Date and time: October 7, 5:00 PM (Tbilisi time)
• Format: Online via Zoom (link available upon request from florian.muehlfried@iliauni.edu.ge)
• Attendance: Free and open to the public