ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE The Politics of Canadian Financial Literacy Education as Moments in the Circuit of Culture Laura Elizabeth Pinto* Niagara University Financial literacy education as both policy and praxis has gained international political momentum in the years following the 2008 financial crisis. This paper analyzes how it operated with the circuit of cultural production in Canada between 2008 and 2011 by examining three moments: regulatory, representation and production. This paper contributes to a growing body of literature on financial literacy education as a cultural phenomenon, and sheds light on how financial literacy education is produced, represented and mobilized through various policy actors (governments, NGOs, the financial sector, the media, teachers, and the public) using powerful representational imagery. The circuit of culture draws attention to how financial literacy is constructed through gospels of consumption, production and representation controlled largely by neo-liberal forces, and in doing so, provides a means to disrupt policies that pathologize the individual rather than attribute economic woes to systemic factors. _______________________________________________ *Correspondence should be sent to: Dr. Laura Elizabeth Pinto, Niagara University Ontario Campus. 10475 Bayview Avenue, Richmond Hill, ON L4C 3P2 Canada. Email: lpinto@niagara.edu Leadership and Policy Quarterly, 1: 35-57 Copyright © Untested Ideas Research Center http://www.untestedideas.com/lpq.html ISSN: 2168-7692 (Print) ISSN: 2168-7706 (Online)