A Comment on Lambek's “Exchange, Time, and Person in Mayotte”

Abstract

In the September 1990 issue of this journal Michael Lambek presents the salient characteristics of a ceremonial feast system, the shunggu, among the Malagasy-speakers on the island of Mayotte in the Comoro Archipelago (Lambek 1990). Lambek's interest is in showing the role played by the shunggu system in the social construction of individual identity in this culture. In his analysis he depends on concepts he adopts from Sahlins's (1972) typology of exchange processes. Lambek has made an error in interpretation that produces a vital flaw in his argument. Specifically, Lambek asserts that an allocation process can be at once a manifestation of pooling and balanced reciprocity. We hope to clarify the point from Sahlins and demonstrate its importance by showing how in the case of the shunggu system a better understanding leads to a reinterpretation of its role in the social system. Each individual who enters a shunggu group is responsible for providing a feast. The rights and responsibilities of each member within the shunggu are well defined and socially prescribed with only the timing of these events to be established. When all members have made