Why Do Anthropologists Study Gift Giving?
Why study Gifts?
The anthropology of gifts has been mostly studied in the context of non-Western cultures. The important roles of gift giving were highlighted by classical anthropologists such as Malinowski, Mauss and Levi-Strauss. They stressed the significance of reciprocity and obligation suggested in gift exchange and that gift giving is a one practice of material expression that integrates a society.
Gift giving is essential to the studies of many anthropological debates such as sociability, alienation, sacrifice, religion and kinship.
The anthropology of gifts is also crucial to economics. Entire businesses and industries rely on gift giving as it helps understand the relationships in economy as a cultural system that is not just market based. Moreover, it plays a part in the understanding of how people invest in each other, as well as comprehending the development of major economies, such as China.
Malinowski wrote of the Kula Ring in his ‘Argonauts of the Western Pacific’(1922).
This exchange of gifts was half ceremonial, half commercial. Twice annually, the inhabitants of the Trobiand islands will visit other islands to give gifts, barter and celebrate. The islanders aim to acquire, as well as give, to their special Kula-exchange partners. They exchange armlets of white shells and necklaces of red shells. These shells are carried from island to island in a ring, the necklaces in one direction and the armlets in the other, in a continual ring called ‘Kula’. Kula items have no financial value; they are merely for display and reputation.
So, how does this study benefit western society? And what does it tell us of foreign concepts?
Malinowski compared the Kula to the Crown Jewels, though in my opinion the Crown Jewels are worth a lot of money, one would want these for their value and not just their symbolic status, so I would compare the exchange more to a trophy, which the winner keeps until the next competition (i.e., football) and then the trophy is
The anthropology of gifts has been mostly studied in the context of non-Western cultures. The important roles of gift giving were highlighted by classical anthropologists such as Malinowski, Mauss and Levi-Strauss. They stressed the significance of reciprocity and obligation suggested in gift exchange and that gift giving is a one practice of material expression that integrates a society.
Gift giving is essential to the studies of many anthropological debates such as sociability, alienation, sacrifice, religion and kinship.
The anthropology of gifts is also crucial to economics. Entire businesses and industries rely on gift giving as it helps understand the relationships in economy as a cultural system that is not just market based. Moreover, it plays a part in the understanding of how people invest in each other, as well as comprehending the development of major economies, such as China.
Malinowski wrote of the Kula Ring in his ‘Argonauts of the Western Pacific’(1922).
This exchange of gifts was half ceremonial, half commercial. Twice annually, the inhabitants of the Trobiand islands will visit other islands to give gifts, barter and celebrate. The islanders aim to acquire, as well as give, to their special Kula-exchange partners. They exchange armlets of white shells and necklaces of red shells. These shells are carried from island to island in a ring, the necklaces in one direction and the armlets in the other, in a continual ring called ‘Kula’. Kula items have no financial value; they are merely for display and reputation.
So, how does this study benefit western society? And what does it tell us of foreign concepts?
Malinowski compared the Kula to the Crown Jewels, though in my opinion the Crown Jewels are worth a lot of money, one would want these for their value and not just their symbolic status, so I would compare the exchange more to a trophy, which the winner keeps until the next competition (i.e., football) and then the trophy is
References: Malinowski, B. 1922 ‘Essentials of the kula’, Argonauts of the Western Pacific. London: Routledge, pp. 81—104 Davis, J. 1972 ‘Gifts and the UK economy’, Man, 7, pp. 408—29 Parry, J. 1986 ‘The Gift, The Indian Gift and “the Indian Gift”’Man, 21, 3, pp. 453—73 Shaw, A. 1988 A Pakistani Community in Britain. Oxford: Blackwell Sherry, J. F. 1983 ‘Gift Giving in Anthropological Perspective.’ Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 2. Pp.157-168 http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/csacpub/Mono19/Html/wrapped_gifts-1_-3.html http://science.jrank.org/pages/11482/Trade-Approaches-Study-Trade.html