1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910808530103321

Autore

Gregory Christopher A.

Titolo

Gifts and commodities / / C. A. Gregory

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago, Illinois : , : HAU Books, , 2015

ISBN

1-912808-10-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (336 pages)

Collana

Classics of ethnographic theory series

Disciplina

306.3

Soggetti

Economic anthropology

Papua New Guinea Economic conditions

Papua New Guinea

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

1. The competing theories -- Political economy -- Economics -- 2. A framework of analysis -- The general relation of production to consumption, distribution, and exchange -- The definition of particular economies -- 3. Gifts and commodities: circulation -- The direct exchange of things -- The circulation of things -- The circulation of people -- Circulation and distribution -- 4. Gifts and commodities: reproduction -- Production of commodities by means of commodities -- Consumption of gifts by means of gifts -- Summary -- 5. Traditional and modern goods: a critique -- The conceptual problem -- The perceptual problem -- The methodological problem -- 6. The transformation of gifts into commodities in colonial Papua New Guinea -- Theories of change in PNG -- The emergence of commodity production in PNG -- 7. The transformation of commodities into gifts in colonial Papua New Guinea -- Restricted reproduction in the Sepik District -- Delayed reproduction in the highlands -- The kula gift exchange system of Milne Bay District -- Gift exchange and capital accumulation in Central District -- Conclusion -- Mathematical appendix: A matrix approach to the calculus of kinship relations.

Sommario/riassunto

C. A. Gregory's Gifts and Commodities is one of the undisputed classics of economic anthropology. On its publication in 1982, it spurred intense, ongoing debates about gifts and gifting, value, exchange, and the place of political economy in anthropology. Gifts and commodities



is, at once, a critique of neoclassical economics and development theory, a critical history of colonial Papua New Guinea, and a comparative ethnography of exchange in Melanesian societies. This new edition includes a foreword by anthropologist Marilyn Strathern and a new preface by the author that discusses the ongoing response to the book and the debates it has engendered, debates that have become more salient in our evermore neoliberal and globalized era. Dr Christopher Gregory is an Adjunct Fellow in Anthropology ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.