1002:3.1.1
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
Both sides previous revisionPrevious revisionNext revision | Previous revision | ||
1002:3.1.1 [2020/01/25 15:28] – external edit 127.0.0.1 | 1002:3.1.1 [Unknown date] (current) – removed - external edit (Unknown date) 127.0.0.1 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
- | ~~DECKJS~~ | ||
- | # The obligations of the gift | ||
- | |||
- | ## The obligations of the gift | ||
- | |||
- | Ryan Schram | ||
- | |||
- | Social Sciences Building (A02), Room 410 | ||
- | |||
- | ryan.schram@sydney.edu.au | ||
- | |||
- | ANTH 1002: Anthropology in the world | ||
- | |||
- | Module 3, Week 1, Lecture 1 | ||
- | |||
- | September 23, 2019 | ||
- | |||
- | Available at http:// | ||
- | |||
- | ## The Kula Ring | ||
- | |||
- | {{url> | ||
- | |||
- | ## Bagi | ||
- | |||
- | {{: | ||
- | |||
- | (Necklace [*bagi*], late 20th century, Pacific Ethnographic Collection #80.1/3369, American Museum of Natural History) | ||
- | |||
- | ## Mwali | ||
- | |||
- | {{: | ||
- | |||
- | (Armband [*mwali*], late 20th century, Pacific Ethnographic Collection #80.1/3409, American Museum of Natural History) | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | ## Durkheim and Mauss | ||
- | |||
- | **[[:Emile Durkheim]]** is a founding figure of sociology and anthropology | ||
- | |||
- | * He wanted to analyze [[: | ||
- | * Society is a collective consciousness, | ||
- | |||
- | **[[:Marcel Mauss]]** was a nephew and student of Durkheim | ||
- | |||
- | * Applied a Durkheimian analysis to economic activity | ||
- | * [[: | ||
- | |||
- | ## Western culture and social reality | ||
- | |||
- | At the risk of oversimplifying things, I would like to introduce a major division in types of society. | ||
- | |||
- | ### " | ||
- | |||
- | * Western culture values individualism. | ||
- | |||
- | * Children are taught to be individuals. | ||
- | |||
- | * Society and its rules are always external infringements on personal freedom. | ||
- | |||
- | ### Social reality | ||
- | |||
- | * Every person is, by definition, a member of a group. Most people | ||
- | have very complex networks of ties to many people and groups. It's | ||
- | just part of being a person. | ||
- | |||
- | * No one can really be outside of society. There' | ||
- | wolf child, or a Robinson Crusoe. These are myths. | ||
- | |||
- | ## Gifts | ||
- | |||
- | In the islands of PNG, fishermen exchange fish for garden food with | ||
- | gardeners. Fishermen always cook their food in fresh water, even | ||
- | though they live by the sea. Inland gardeners cook their food in sea | ||
- | water, even though they have fresh water nearby. **" | ||
- | great love of exchange, they exchange even the water of their | ||
- | respective dwelling places and carry it home for the boiling of their | ||
- | food" | ||
- | |||
- | Many people throughout the world exchange things they don't need for | ||
- | things they don't need. They even exchange identical things, like | ||
- | water. | ||
- | |||
- | Why? | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | ## Gifts create obligations | ||
- | |||
- | Mauss says: Because you have to. | ||
- | |||
- | Gifts come with obligations because it is part of the system of total | ||
- | services. Specifically, | ||
- | obligation**: | ||
- | |||
- | * The obligation to **give** | ||
- | * The obligation to **receive** | ||
- | * The obligation to **reciprocate**, | ||
- | given. | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | ## Gifts have spirit | ||
- | |||
- | For Mauss, the Maori word *hau* means the " | ||
- | When someone gives a gift, they give part of themselves. "The *hau* | ||
- | wishes to return to its birthplace" | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | ## Total services | ||
- | |||
- | What, then, is society? Mauss says that the essence of society is a | ||
- | " | ||
- | else, and other people do everything for you. It is a state of total | ||
- | interdependence. | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | ## Reciprocity is everywhere | ||
- | |||
- | Gift economies are not simply societies in which there' | ||
- | gifts. A gift economy is a society in which reciprocity is a "total | ||
- | social phenomenon." | ||
- | |||
- | Even societies which have created the possibility of individualism, | ||
- | the the West, still have gifts and still have reciprocity. | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | ## Moka is a competitive system | ||
- | |||
- | The *moka* and the *potlatch* are systems of total services of an | ||
- | agonistic type. | ||
- | |||
- | Agonistic means that the sides in an exchange are competing to give | ||
- | more services to the other, and to raise the stakes of reciprocity. | ||
- | |||
- | Competing for prestige versus gaining profit? | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | |||
- | ## References | ||
- | |||
- | Fortune, R. F. 1932. *Sorcerers of Dobu: The Social Anthropology of the Dobu Islanders of the Western Pacific*. London: Routledge. | ||
- | |||
- | Mauss, Marcel. 2000 (1925). *The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies*. Translated by W. D. Halls. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. | ||