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6 - Inter-tribal commodity barter and reproductive gift-exchange in old Melanesia
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- By Alfred Gell, London School of Economics
- Edited by Caroline Humphrey, Stephen Hugh-Jones
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- Book:
- Barter, Exchange and Value
- Published online:
- 05 June 2012
- Print publication:
- 11 June 1992, pp 142-168
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Summary
Introduction
By and large, ‘Maussian’ gift institutions have had a favourable press in anthropology, and ‘commodities’ an unfavourable one (for an extreme case cf. Baudrillard, 1975). ‘Gift–reciprocity–Good/market–exchange–Bad’ is a simple, easy-to-memorise formula. But perhaps the tide is about to turn. Parry (1986, 1987) has exposed the ‘moral ambiguity’ of the gift in an Indian context. In what follows I propose a critique of ‘gift-exchange’ theory in a more familiar context. Melanesia is deservedly famous for the prevalence of ‘ceremonial-exchange’ institutions there, so much so that it is easy to forget that barter or trade was highly developed in ‘old Melanesia’ (i.e. Melanesia as it was in pre-colonial times). This fact is often forgotten, witness the paucity of the treatment given to commodity barter in both of the general monographs on Melanesian exchange and economy which have appeared in recent years (Rubel and Rosman, 1979; Gregory, 1982). I intend to demonstrate that this myopic stance concerning the presence of an indigenous commodity barter economy in old Melanesia has resulted in serious deficiencies in the theoretical treatment of ‘exchange’ in non-commercial contexts as well.
In this essay I propose the evidently rather daring hypothesis that Melanesian ceremonial exchange institutions, particularly the category of prestations which I call ‘reproductive gifts’ are symbolically derived from a ‘template’ which is provided by commodity barter. I believe that it is wrong to polarise ‘gift’ economy as if it were antithetical to commodity exchange, when in fact the relation is one of mutual implication, both materially and symbolically or rhetorically.
4 - Newcomers to the world of goods: consumption among the Muria Gonds
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- By Alfred Gell, London School of Economics and Political Science
- Edited by Arjun Appadurai
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- Book:
- The Social Life of Things
- Published online:
- 05 June 2014
- Print publication:
- 30 April 1986, pp 110-138
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Summary
The theme of this paper is consumption as a form of symbolic action. Consumption goods are more than mere packets of neutral “utility.” They are objects made more or less desirable by the role they play in a symbolic system. I will develop this entirely uncontroversial proposition on the basis of my observations of consumption behavior among the Muria of the north-central part of Bastar district, Madhya Pradesh, India.
The Muria belong to the “tribal” (adivasi) category established by the constitution of India, and according to the official stereotype of such groups they ought to be mired in poverty and exploitation. The official stereotype is not wide of the mark so far as most of the adivasi population are concerned (Fürer-Haimendorf 1982), but conditions in north-central Bastar are exceptional, for here the Muria enjoy considerable material advantages by comparison with small peasants elsewhere in the subcontinent (see Hill 1983). I will try to explain how this has come about in due course.
Amid the modest prosperity, or at least security, now enjoyed by most of the Muria population in north-central Bastar, one or two families in each village have enriched themselves to a greater degree than most, and it is on the consumption behavior of such rich Muria families that I wish to focus particular attention. I believe that “rich” Muria are a relatively new phenomenon, dating back no more than fifty years or so, and that this may help explain why their consumption behavior, which is marked by an exaggerated conservatism, assumes the rather peculiar form it does.