Ethnography Essay Trobriand Islands
Gift exchange and reciprocity in societies
Gift exchange is a key aspect of life and is constantly employed within cultures to maintain social relations between people. Seldom acknowledged and hardly spoken about, there are many unwritten rules that determine what we give, the quantity given, and to whom we give. Reciprocity is closely intertwined with gift exchange as it describes a situation in which an item or service is repaid. According to Mauss (as cited in Reciprocity, n.d.), reciprocity entails a moral obligation to return the value of the gift to the donor, either immediately or in the distant future. With reference to the Trobrianders’ Kula, gift exchanges during Christmas, and the flea markets in Singaporean society, this essay discusses the importance of reciprocity and the circulation of gifts for the establishment and maintenance of social relations.
The Trobriand Islands - Importance of yam and kinship
From adolescence, adulthood and finally death, reciprocal gift giving is prevalent in the Trobriand Islands. This is exemplified in the way men give gifts of yams while the women give banana leaf bundles and red fiber skirts. According to O’Sullivan et, al. (2008), yams are “the most esteemed and perhaps the oldest of the staple foods in the Pacific,” (as cited in MacCarthy, 2012). A representation of wealth and an indication of how much respect a man is able to command, yam can also be used to exchange for more valuable items like armshells and stone axe-blades. The act of giving in the Trobriand Islands is seen as being caring and generous and communicates a person’s intentions entirely based on hope. In kinship, it is customary that the oldest brother will make a garden for his oldest sister, the next oldest for the next sister and so on. Therefore, as a form of reciprocation, many of these women generously give betel nuts and tobacco to brothers as a yam garden will eventually be built for her. A villager
Gift exchange is a key aspect of life and is constantly employed within cultures to maintain social relations between people. Seldom acknowledged and hardly spoken about, there are many unwritten rules that determine what we give, the quantity given, and to whom we give. Reciprocity is closely intertwined with gift exchange as it describes a situation in which an item or service is repaid. According to Mauss (as cited in Reciprocity, n.d.), reciprocity entails a moral obligation to return the value of the gift to the donor, either immediately or in the distant future. With reference to the Trobrianders’ Kula, gift exchanges during Christmas, and the flea markets in Singaporean society, this essay discusses the importance of reciprocity and the circulation of gifts for the establishment and maintenance of social relations.
The Trobriand Islands - Importance of yam and kinship
From adolescence, adulthood and finally death, reciprocal gift giving is prevalent in the Trobriand Islands. This is exemplified in the way men give gifts of yams while the women give banana leaf bundles and red fiber skirts. According to O’Sullivan et, al. (2008), yams are “the most esteemed and perhaps the oldest of the staple foods in the Pacific,” (as cited in MacCarthy, 2012). A representation of wealth and an indication of how much respect a man is able to command, yam can also be used to exchange for more valuable items like armshells and stone axe-blades. The act of giving in the Trobriand Islands is seen as being caring and generous and communicates a person’s intentions entirely based on hope. In kinship, it is customary that the oldest brother will make a garden for his oldest sister, the next oldest for the next sister and so on. Therefore, as a form of reciprocation, many of these women generously give betel nuts and tobacco to brothers as a yam garden will eventually be built for her. A villager