ANTH 1120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Potlatch

• School: York University
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH 1120
• Professor: Andrew Thomson

Document Summary

The idea is that the exchange of gifts creates a feeling of obligation, in that the gift must be repaid: (ca) potlach, a celebration, usually involving elaborate feasting and the redistribution of gifts, found among many indigenous northwest. Coast groups (such as the tsimshian: the potlatch is a means of creating new identity. Conclusions: concept of self is socially derived, egocentric view- person is autonomous, sociocentric view- personal is contingent on social setting. Individuals distinguished by age, gender, kinship, ethnicity and language.