Messages Behind Self-Gifting Practices: A Phenomenological-Anthropological Approach

Abstract

Using the tools of phenomenological anthropology and the means of research into everyday practices, the article discusses contemporary gift-giving practices, focusing on the special cases of gift giving, revealed through the narratives of respondents who were interviewed for the research conducted in Lithuania – a country on the borders of Western, Eastern, and Northern Europe. The analyzed special cases are self-gifts – the ones purchased by the respondents and originally called “a gift to myself” by them, whereas they emphasize that it was not an ordinary purchase but certainly a gift. This phenomenon is analyzed through a deeper insight into three cases: excerpts of qualitative unstructured interviews conducted for the research and a description of the author’s personal experience. In this article, they are presented along with the comments of the author as is characteristic of the phenomenological research. The analysis seeks to reveal how the experiences with self-gifts occur, acquire meaning and place in memory, and how this affects a person’s relationship with themselves and those around them. Although the self-gifting practice sounds like a paradox, it exists in the language and everyday practices, so this analysis aims to look for a deeper message encoded behind the words of individual stories.