ANTHROP 1AA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Hairstyle, Liminality, Marcel Mauss
9 Apr 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
In all cultures, different groups of people will exchange gifts for different reasons: eg: christmas, birthday, graduations. He argues that these exchanges is not the gift itself but we use this as an opportunity to establish or create social ties and bonds with other people: creates a sense of obligation. Name given to a widespread exchange that occurs between islands in trobriand. Red shell necklaces and white shell armbands. Commodities: items that involve a transfer of a value and a counter-transfer: store bought items. Personalising to show its not just an economic object. Invite other people from other villages for a feast. Celebrating birth, death or an event in which a chief will host as a sign as a generosity and wealth: food, wood carved items, beverages, generosity is a sign of a powerful person. Rites of passage: rituals that accompany many changes in status/identity: universal, they occur in every society and culture; either secular or religious.
