Gift Exchange Research Articles

Magic money: commodities and exchange in Bronze Age Europe

ABSTRACT Bronze Age Europe has been described as the first globalized economy: long-distance trade in bronze and other materials is seen as centrally implicated in the social and political transformations of the period. Recent research pointing to the existence of standardized units of weight (given material form in ‘proto-currencies’ such as the well-known bronze ösenringe of the Early Bronze Age, as well as in the appearance of weights and balance beams during the Late Bronze Age) has reignited longstanding discussions around the relative significance of commodity and gift exchange during the period. In this paper, we revisit anthropological discussions of trade and exchange on the one hand, and of ethnomathematics on the other, to consider the social implications of Bronze Age numeracy and metrology. In this way, it is possible to avoid imagining the Bronze Age as a proto-Capitalist economy and instead consider how economics, society and cosmology were inextricably intertwined.

An Experience on Capitalism in Post Covid-19 times: The Case of Vollepension Restaurants

Abstract: In 2024 many questions are made about the future of the Capitalist system. Extreme views as total anarchy and total dirigisme exist. However, practical examples of ways of going beneath and over the traditional market system based in supply, demand, price and quantity are scarce. It is in this context that the Vollepension experience on restaurants management in Austria is amazingly relevant. In this restaurant and for a certain time, during the Summer of 2023, products had no price, because "someone already paid your lunch before". This way of acting is called “Pay-it-First” (PIF) and has been already analysed in the core of the “Gift Economy”. In order to study this mentioned case, first we performed a literature review on SCOPUS database about the “PIF concept”, then we used published data in the internet about Vollepension and direct contacts with the restaurant to describe the experience, finally we discussed the case in the context of the theory We concluded that PIF is a very significant alternative to traditional capitalism and it might drive societies to a new and innovative way of managing Capitalism. This paper has the limitation of being centred in a single organisation although we mention other cases in the literature review. Finally we believe that researchers in management should pay attention to this innovative initiative as in the 21st century societies are trying to find alternative ways of living and existence.

Creating Agoras in Buenos Aires: Time, Ritual, and Sociability Among a Spanish Ethnic Group

The aim of this article is to provide an ethnographic investigation on how community consciousness is forged through daily rituals of encounter and sociability among the Calós of Buenos Aires. The research method used was ethnography based on participant observation. The daily encounters and the intensive frequency of repetition are posed as ritual actions that create agoras in public and semi-public spaces of the neighbourhood. The logic of socialisation expresses the very life of the Calós and their capacity to transform spaces into places. Social rituals and the use of time and tempo are tentatively addressed, as well as the relevance of gift exchange and reciprocity.

Nagapattinam Port: the Catalyst of Cultural and Diplomatic Exchange Between Indian Sub-continent and Indonesian Archipelago

Abstract: -This paper explores the dynamic interactions between the Shailendra dynasty of Southeast Asia and the Chola dynasty of South India from the 8th to 11th centuries CE. The Shailendras, who were known for deep ties with cholas. The Cholas, expanded their influence across South India and beyond, maintained a significant relationship leading to cultural, economic, and religious exchanges. The paper highlights Nagapattinam's pivotal role as vibrant trade hub that facilitated these exchanges. Through the exchange of gifts and the construction of Buddhist institutions, like those which were funded by the Srivijayan rulers. The study demonstrates how these reciprocations fostered a shared cultural heritage and strengthened maritime trade networks. This trade-off underscores the role of economic and cultural hubs in bridging regions leading to enhancing diplomatic relations.

Learning to (not quite) buy nothing: Digital gift economies and household innovations reducing consumption

The daunting task of swiftly transitioning to sustainable modes of living presents a formidable challenge, particularly at individual and household levels, where entrenched consumption and disposal systems exhibit strong path dependency. This research investigates how individuals and households can contribute to sustainability transitions through grassroots innovations. Specifically, we ask: How do digital gift economies facilitate changes in household consumption practices and contribute to broader sustainability transitions? To address this question, we present an instructional case study of the Buy Nothing Project (BNP), a globally scaled yet locally focused digital gift economy, as a grassroots innovation enabling citizen agency within domestic spaces. BNP is a socio-technical network of hyperlocal, digital gift-giving groups that advocate for community reliance and generosity to reduce household consumption and waste and build neighbourhood bonds. Our analysis reveals that BNP's most revolutionary aspect lies in the embedded everyday sustainability practices it facilitates, particularly the social learning to reduce consumption at individual, household, and community levels through group participation and ongoing membership. We argue that this grassroots innovation enables citizen agency within domestic spaces, contributing significantly to sustainability transitions. Paradoxically, the ordinariness of these practices, combined with the gendered composition of members and that acquiring and disposing of household goods is usually considered “women's work”, may hinder recognition of BNP's potential as a powerful catalyst for sustainable transitions. This study contributes to our understanding of how digital platforms can support household-level innovations in sustainability practices and highlights the importance of recognising and valuing diverse forms of contribution to sustainability transitions.

Censorship and Creative Communities: Fragility and Change of Fanfiction Writing in China

AbstractResearch on cultural production has recognized that artistic creation, especially fandom subcultures, depends on social interaction within artworlds. Yet less research has examined how creative production functions when exogenous social forces disrupt key forms of interaction. This study leverages the case of Chinese fanfiction writers’ response when state censorship interrupts and threatens fanfiction writing to better understand the vulnerability of creative communities. Based on interviews with Chinese fanfiction writers who experienced an unexpected intensification of online censorship in 2020, and following fandom studies in understanding fanfiction as rooted in a gift economy, I show how censorship discouraged writing by destabilizing interaction and interfering with gift exchanges. I find that censorship transformed cultural production by (1) reorganizing and fragmenting networks, (2) reshaping the meaning of visibility, and (3) opening up new opportunities in a disintegrated community. As this study argues, we need to go beyond asking whether censorship is effectively destructive or not. While creative communities are vulnerable to outside disruption, especially in online space, the pressure of censorship leads to new conventions, networks, and fields for artistic creation as censorship does not simply strangle creativity.

Tackling Social Inequality in the City of Porto, Northern Portugal: Grassroots Horticultural Practices and the Desired City

Grassroots urban horticultural plots (hortas), part of the Porto Metropolitan Area in Northern Portugal, are presented as liminal spaces that hold a richness of community life and a “gift economy.” Often in existence for several decades and encompassing groups of over 20 or 30 people, these informal communities are, nevertheless, not cherished by the instances of city governance that do not stand in the way of the destruction of these low‐income urbanite horticultural communities. The use of de Certeau’s concepts of “strategy” and “tactics” are used to try and explain this incompatibility between these two forms of urban (self) governance that hinders the right to the city by the low‐income urbanites who have created these horticultural grassroots communities.

Money That Matters: Coins, Banknotes, and Mediation in Tanzanian Prosperity Ministries

Based on long-term ethnographic research in Tanzania, this article contributes to existing scholarship on adaptations and modifications of the so-called gospel in African contexts. I show how the Prosperity Gospel has taken shape in an environment of intense religious/spiritual/medical competition and, not least, of widespread cultural concerns with the moral legitimacy of wealth generated through alliances with spiritual forces. However, I also argue that a deeper understanding of the ways in which the Prosperity Gospel has become contextualized can be reached by moving beyond a focus on cultural concerns with wealth and paying close attention to the exuberance of meanings attributed to money in its most concrete and tangible form, coins and banknotes, as well as to the religious/ritual practices involving money that such meanings inspire. I pursue my analysis by zooming in on two areas where cultural understandings of money as exceeding its materiality and its use value are prevalent: the use of powers of witchcraft to extract money from others and the practice of bride wealth. Whereas the first has to do with understandings of material money as imbued with spiritual powers, the second can be seen as an example of a gift economy, since money given by a groom to his parents-in-law by virtue of containing parts of his soul or his essence becomes the foundation of a relationship of mutual respect between them. In the last part of the article, I show how both understandings are entangled with Prosperity teachings and inform ritual practices involving material money.

From Metabolism to (Gift) Exchange: On the Propensity to Propensity

In this paper I explore how the limitations of sociological and economic approaches to the gift can be exposed not only through deconstructive analysis, such as Jacques Derrida pursues in Given Time, vols. I & II, but also through the philological resources and biological conceptuality of ‘metabolism’. By bridging Derrida’s textual conception of survival with neurobiological and phenomenological approaches to life, I argue that what ‘gift’ names is nothing distinctly human but, rather, a possibility at the origin of any economization of differences, be they ‘textual’ or ‘biological’ in nature.

‘A Brother’s Portion’: Regifted and Requested Items in Safavid–Mughal Diplomatic Gift Exchanges

Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Safavid and Mughal empires forged a remarkable history of dynastic interaction through the frequent exchange of correspondence and gifts. The ‘regifting’ of luxury objects and exotic goods across physical and cultural boundaries was a common practice in the early modern period. Safavid and Mughal rulers mainly regifted precious items of a rare nature to impress their counterparts. The paper examines the intermediary role of the Safavids in the circulation of objects between India, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire.

«Экономика желаний» и «экономика дара»: сравнительный анализ

Introduction. The article is the first one to conduct a comparative analysis of two economic models, reflecting previously little-studied aspects of the processes of exchange and consumption. A connection is established between the archaic paradigm of abundance and the postmodern theory of unlimitedly producing capitalism. Theoretical analysis. According to Daniel M. Bell (The Economy of Desire: Christianity and Capitalism in a Postmodern World), the economy of desire is based on overcoming the scarcity approach to the processes of production and exchange. The main goal of this economy becomes the formation of desires for consumption, and not the creation of benefits. The approach Bell describes is based on the idea of resource abundance. This brings him closer to the gift economy, which, as J. Bataille writes (“The Accursed Share”), is aimed at getting rid of attachment to material goods through transcendence. The act of giving is a waste of which only those who are not afraid of scarcity are capable. Conclusion. The author concludes that the economy of desire, although it overcomes scarcity, is nevertheless aimed at immanence, since desires force one to focus on oneself and one’s current states. In the modern world, these two models simultaneously compete, since they have attitudes that are incompatible with each other, and coexist, as the capitalist system becomes more diverse and requires new ways of relationships between subjects.

Scottish Crofting and an Alternative to Capitalism

ABSTRACT Small-scale farming communities in Scotland engaged in a combination of food sovereignty, agroecology, or land sovereignty are, to some extent, offering an alternative to capitalism. These strategies have not only made them more resilient to the recent crises of capitalism but have done so by reducing their dependency upon it. During these crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, they were not only more able to sustain themselves when long food supply chains collapsed but they also increased their autonomy and sustainability through an increased demand for local food networks. What is more, in certain areas, these strategies have transformed social relations and, at times, revealed unalienated practices such as gift economies. This research was conducted over a 15-month period and primarily consisted of seasonal interviews with 14 small-scale food producers in Scotland. This paper will examine the manner in which the agricultural practices of these communities offer a glimpse of what an alternative to capitalism might look like through an analysis that draws on the work of James C. Scott, Marcell Mauss and John Holloway.

Token‐based reviewer economies: Proposed institutions for managing the reviewer shortage problem

AbstractThis opinion paper presents two proposed token‐based systems to fix the information system academy's review system. At present, the review system consumes more human resources than the information systems academy has by an order of magnitude. The cost of this overflow is borne entirely by information systems researchers. I argue this is because the review system is based on a gift economy that cannot handle the currently sized market. Both proposals involve the creation of tokens and a central governing body. The first proposal involves a market built around a review bank (central governing body) that issues review tokens that function as a proxy currency. Journals function as intermediaries between authors and reviewers. Authors pay journals for reviews, and journals pay experts such as reviewers and editors for their services. Reviewers exchange their review tokens on the open market or trade review tokens for favours with institutions like universities. The second proposal involves a gift economy where reviewers transfer their allegiance from peers to the information systems academy. In this proposal, each individual token is unique, like a trading card and an affiliation board tracks the transfer of tokens, linking former possessors of a token together in a review ring. As tokens are regifted, they accumulate history, and thereby social worth, captured in the form of messages each possessor writes. Former possession of a large number of tokens and of tokens with particular histories confers status benefits. These benefits in turn lock reviewers into the review ring system encouraging them to do further reviews. Economic, social, and other implications of both policies are discussed and questions are posed for the information systems academy to grapple with. Example issues discussed include the effect of the proposals on the political power of reviewers and shifts in political power in the information systems academy.

Emergence of economic and social disparities through competitive gift-giving

Several tiers of social organization with varying economic and social disparities have been observed. However, a quantitative characterization of the types and the causal mechanisms for the transitions have hardly been explained. While anthropologists have emphasized that gift exchange, rather than market exchange, prevails in traditional societies and shapes social relations, few mathematical studies have explored its consequences for social organizations. In this study, we present a simple model of competitive gift-giving that describes how gifts bring goods to the recipient and honor to the donor, and simulate social change. Numerical simulations and an analysis of the corresponding mean-field theory demonstrate the transitions between the following four phases with different distribution shapes of wealth and social reputation: the band, without economic or social disparities; the tribe, with economic but without social disparities; the chiefdom, with both; and the kingdom, with economic disparity and weak social disparity except for an outlier, namely, the “monarch”. The emergence of strong disparities is characterized by power law distributions and is attributed to the “rich get richer” process. In contrast, the absence of such a process leads to exponential distributions due to random fluctuations. The phases depend on the parameters characterizing the frequency and scale of gift interactions. Our findings provide quantitative criteria for classifying social organizations based on economic and social disparities, consistent with both anthropological theory and empirical observations. Thus, we propose empirically measurable explanatory variables and characteristic indices for the evolution of social organizations. The constructive model, guided by social scientific theory, can provide the basic mechanistic explanation of social evolution and integrate theories of the social sciences.

ART OF DIPLOMACY AND POLITICAL SYMBOLISM: FROM THE HISTORY OF GIFTS TO TOP STATE OFFICIALS

Gifts are an integral part of human communication, given and exchanged in various situations and transactions. At the same time, official or state gifts to top officials of the state represent a unique category of gifts. They are primarily of symbolic value, and the giving and exchange of gifts between the parties involved shapes the nature of the relationship that develops between them. Moreover, for centuries, the exchange of gifts between foreign leaders has been a tradition closely associated with the delicate work of international diplomacy. Diplomatic gifts, often formally presented during state or courtesy visits, have the potential to forge closer ties between countries. The article examines the history of one of the integral parts of the protocol practice of each state, a symbol of attention to a distinguished guest – gifts to the first persons of the state during the Soviet period and independent Kazakhstan. Based on the analysis, some features have been identified in the practice of presenting gifts based on certain traditions of a certain historical period. The article contains a previously unpublished interesting episode from the life of an ordinary Soviet citizen while his visiting the exhibition of gifts to top officials of the state, in Moscow in 1950. This excerpt from the letter clearly demonstrates what gifts were given to the heads of the state, as well as what impression they made on ordinary people. The publication of the material became possible owing to the daughter of the author of the letter, who carefully preserved and provided documents from the family archive, a veteran of archiving of the Kazakh SSR and the Republic of Kazakhstan, Elena Mikhailovna Gribanova.

저승여행신화의 인정-협상 코드 <차사본풀이>계 서사무가 연구

It is insisted that Chasabonpuri may have been inspired by the story of Kimchi, who served as the Jeju judge in the 17th century, or the story of Heungdeokhyeongam. However, considering that the basic motif of Chasabonpuri, which is the confrontation between this world’s judge and the underworld judge, already existed during the Tang Song Dynasty, and that there was also an oral tradition in which General Gang Gam-chan, not Heungdeokhyeongam, appeared as the solver, the formation of this shamanic myth can be traced back to before Goryeo. To understand Chasabonpuri, one should consider the narrative, and not the Kimchi judge as the motif. It is necessary to pay attention to the long history of an in-depth narrative present in Chasabonpuri, spanning from a hunting society to an agricultural and pastoral society, and from Sumerian to Tamra-Jeju mythology. The in-depth narrative involves a journey to the underworld that originates from the vision of the world of death, and the driving force that makes the protagonist's journey to the underworld possible is the gift-negotiation code. According to this code, Inanna hung herself on a peg as a gift, and consequently, Dumuzi and her sister Geshtinanna negotiated a 6-months-long cycle between this world and the next. Nishan Shaman, who is said to be the ancestor of Manchurian shamans, also enters the underworld to pick up Seorgudai Piyanggu, and using various gifts, he pleads with King Yeomra and his messenger Mongoldai Nakchu to extend Piyanggu's life. In Korean shamanic mythology, which continues from Jimgajegut to Chasabonpuri, a district magistrate in this world negotiates with King Yeomra of the underworld using gifts to save the dead from a short life. Despite detailed differences in cultural conditions and narrative composition, there is a gift-negotiation code deeply integrated in these myths. This gift-negotiation code originated from the ritual gift exchange between humans and animals in early hunting societies. Hunters offered gifts and negotiated with the gods because the animal's owner would not release the game unless gifts are offered. This gift is not a calculated act of exchange but is based on unlimited reciprocity. The gift-negotiation code repeated from the Inanna myth to the Ganglimchasa myth indicates that the rules of a hunting society based on unlimited reciprocity continue in current shaman mythology through narrative transformation.

A Comparative Study on the Form and Content of Gift Economy Festivals, Kula Ring and Burning Man

A Comparative Study on the Form and Content of Gift Economy Festivals, Kula Ring and Burning Man

Ceremonial language and social cohesion: An analysis of Seumapa in Acehnese wedding traditions

The Seumapa ceremony, a rhyming exchange ritual performed by a Syekh (reciter) representing both the bride’s (darabarô) and the bridegroom’s (lintôbarô) parties during Acehnese wedding ceremonies before the groom is allowed into the house of Acehnese society in Indonesia, stands as a testament to the role of cultural rituals in capturing and spreading societal values and norms. This study attempts to analyze this ceremony to reveal the social community, practice, and symbolic language within the Acehnese wedding context. It is to further understand how they shape the social cohesion and identity of the Acehnese community. By employing observations on three wedding ceremonies, and interviews with three elders of the community, the analysis of Seumapa’s cultural values reveals the ceremony’s emphasis on etiquette, respect, social and religious identity, customary knowledge, and educational significance. Ritualistic greetings and gift exchanges portray communal harmony, while symbolic acts symbolic acts like lifting the curtain and presenting ‘hantaran’ (ceremonial gifts) from the groom to the bride and vice versa represent social identity and mutual responsibility. The integration of religious knowledge depicts the community’s prioritization of spiritual preparedness, and the use of symbolic and metaphorical language reflects societal values and aspirations, signifying the importance of wisdom, respect, and communal bonds in preserving Acehnese cultural identity.

Building fame through tea: The Wu Family and the Manufacture of zisha teapots during the Ming and Qing dynasties

By examining the Wu family’s connection with the origin of zisha teapots, this study investigates how Ming literati used material culture to shape family reputation. It unravels the complicated relationship between Ming dynasty literati and the craft products they appreciated. The paper analyzes Ming and Qing dynasty texts discussing the origins of zisha ware as well as material evidence. This study found that the authors of these texts were all connected to the Wu family. This family had success in imperial examinations but wanted to raise their social profile further via their involvement in tea and teaware production and connoisseurship. Their association with the invention of teaware — a story spread via publications by relatives and friends — conveyed the Wu family’s artistic taste. Thus, texts praising tea and tea paraphernalia as well as the exchange of tea gifts became tools for actively creating material culture and establishing influence in literati circles.

The valorization of interactions. Gift exchange, power and value creation on digital platforms

Technology companies are often worth billions, but they still must make their money through advertising. The research literature on the value creation of data-driven platform companies often refers to the expropriation of data or the exploitation of users. This article proposes a relational approach to the understanding of value creation on digital platforms such as social media channels or free internet services. To this end, it combines Marxian and anthropological value theory. Accordingly, the interactions of platform users are understood as asymmetrical practices of gift exchange. This exchange of digital gifts forms the condition of production for the value creation of internet platforms, and is reproduced continuously by their asymmetrical field of interaction. Here it is not the individual who is exploited, but rather the community of those who interact in a particular field. This condition is anchored in these platforms’ terms and conditions, which stipulate that users share their data not only with each other, but also with the company, thereby enabling a three-step process of data commodification by the platform. First, the data are appropriated as use values by the platforms in order to optimize their own services. Subsequently, a secondary commodification takes place, which, unlike other value creation processes, is decoupled from the use value of the data. Third, there is a process of cybernetization, in which the ability to influence users is sold to third parties as a commodity.