ANTHROPOLOGY

DR. ZUJAJA WAHAJ

TOPIC: EXCHANGE AND ECONOMICS (PART I)
 OBJECTIVES

BY THE END OF THE SESSION YOU WILL BE ABLE TO:

 WHAT DISTINGUISHES ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY FROM THE ECONOMIC
SCIENCES?
 UNDERSTAND ‘ECONOMY’ AS PART OF A SOCIAL TOTALITY.
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KEY QUESTION:

WHAT DISTINGUISHES
ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY
FROM THE ECONOMIC
SCIENCES?
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 LOOKING
EXCHANGE AT ECONOMY INVOLVES
(1) THE WAYS IN WHICH ECONOMY
IS AN INTEGRATED PART OF A
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TOTALITY,
AND
(2) TO REVEAL THAT ECONOMIC
SYSTEMS AND ACTIONS CAN ONLY
BE FULLY UNDERSTOOD IF WE
LOOK INTO THEIR
INTERRELATIONSHIPS WITH
OTHER ASPECTS OF CULTURE
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KEY POINT: THE ECONOMY

IS PART OF A WIDER
SYSTEM AND CANNOT BE
PROPERLY STUDIED AS AN
ISOLATED ‘SECTOR’.
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(3)
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KEY QUESTIONS ASKED:

THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM OF
MODERN SOCIETIES IS WIDELY
SEEN AS ‘RATIONAL’, DETACHED
FROM OTHER ASPECTS OF SOCIAL
LIFE, AND BASED ON IMPARTIAL
MARKET PRINCIPLES. WHY
PEOPLE IN MODERN SOCIETIES
WANT COMMODITIES?
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ANTHROPOLOGICAL ANSWER: THE
FULL ANSWER MUST BE SOUGHT IN AN
ANALYSIS OF THE CULTURAL
CATEGORIES OF THE SOCIETY IN
QUESTION, NOT ONLY IN AN ANALYSIS
OF ‘RATIONAL CHOICE’ AND
MAXIMIZATION OF VALUE. FOR
ALTHOUGH IT MAY BE TRUE THAT
PEOPLE EVERYWHERE TRY TO
MAXIMIZE VALUE, WHAT IS
CONSIDERED VALUABLE VARIES
CROSS CULTURALLY AND BETWEEN
EXCHANGE: THE ECONOMY AS PART OF A
SOCIAL TOTALITY

• MALINOWSKI RETURNED WITH HIS MATERIAL FROM

THE ISLANDS AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR. HE
SHOWED, CONTRARY TO WIDESPREAD
EXPECTATIONS, THAT ‘SAVAGES’ WERE BY NO MEANS
DRIVEN BY LOWLY MATERIAL NEEDS IN
EVERYTHING THEY DID, THAT THEY HAD A
SOPHISTICATED RELIGION AND THAT A COMPLEX
KINSHIP SYSTEM AND A MULTITUDE OF REGULATED
PRACTICES UPHELD SOCIETY AND CONTRIBUTED TO
THE FULFILLMENT OF FAR MORE NEEDS THAN THE
PURELY BIOLOGICAL ONES
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SOCIAL TOTALITY
IN ARGONAUTS, MALINOWSKI WRITES ABOUT THE
PEOPLE OF TROBRIAN ISLANDS THAT :
“WORKS PROMPTED BY MOTIVES OF A HIGHLY
COMPLEX, SOCIAL AND TRADITIONAL NATURE,
AND TOWARDS AIMS WHICH ARE CERTAINLY NOT
DIRECTED TOWARDS THE SATISFACTION OF
PRESENT WANTS, OR TO THE DIRECT
ACHIEVEMENT OF UTILITARIAN PURPOSE … [A]LL,
OR ALMOST ALL OF THE FRUITS OF HIS WORK, AND
CERTAINLY ANY SURPLUS WHICH HE CAN ACHIEVE
BY EXTRA EFFORT, GOES NOT TO THE MAN
HIMSELF, BUT TO HIS RELATIVES-IN-LAW.”
(MALINOWSKI 1984, P. 61)
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SOCIAL TOTALITY

TROBRIAND ECONOMY HAD THREE

SPHERES OF EXCHANGE:

(A) SUBSISTENCE,
(B) PRESTIGE
(C) KULA
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(A)SOCIAL TOTALITY
SUBSISTENCE: THE
MAIN ITEM IN THE
SUBSISTENCE SPHERE WAS
THE ORDINARY YAM. THE
YAMS SERVED TWO
MONEY FUNCTIONS.
(1) WITHIN THE
SUBSISTENCE SPHERE,
BUT NOT IN THE REST OF
THE ECONOMY, THEY
WERE A MEDIUM OF
EXCHANGE.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY

(2) MORE GENERALLY, THEY WERE A

MAJOR MODE OF NON-COMMERCIAL
PAYMENT FOR FULFILLING KINSHIP
AND POLITICAL OBLIGATIONS, SUCH
AS TAX. YAMS ALSO HAD TO BE
PRESENTED AT CERTAIN POINTS IN
FUNERALS AND MARRIAGE
ARRANGEMENTS.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY

• HEAPS OF YAMS DISPLAYED IN FRONT OF MANY

OF THE HUTS. WILL NOT BE THE HOUSEHOLD’S
OWN PRODUCE, BUT RATHER GIFTS RECEIVED
FROM KIN AND (POSSIBLY) POLITICAL
CLIENTS. THE SIZE OF THESE HEAPS OF YAMS
THEREBY GIVES AN INDICATION OF WHO IS
PARTICULARLY POWERFUL IN THE
COMMUNITY.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY

• MALINOWSKI TELLS OF AN
ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT CHIEF IN THE
VILLAGE OF OMARAKANA, WHO HAD
40 WIVES AND RECEIVED 30–50 PER
CENT OF THE TOTAL PRODUCTION OF
YAMS IN KIRIWINA ISLAND.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY

• KEY POINT:
EXCHANGE OF YAMS, IN OTHER
WORDS, DOES NOT JUST
CONTRIBUTE TO
REPRODUCING SOCIAL BONDS
AND TIES OF KINSHIP; IT ALSO
HAS A HIGHLY VISIBLE
POLITICAL ASPECT.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY
(B) PRESTIGE:

THE TROBRIAND
PRESTIGE SPHERE CAN
BE DIVIDED INTO
WOMEN’S AND MEN’S
SUB-SPHERES. THE
FORMER HAD ONLY
TWO ITEMS, BUNDLES
AND SKIRTS MADE
FROM BANANA
LEAVES.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY

(B) PRESTIGE:
• ALL ADULTWOMEN MADE BOTH ITEMS, AND
BOTH HAD MONEY FUNCTIONS. BUNDLES
WERE A MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE IN THAT THEY
COULD BE CONVERTED DOWNWARD INTO THE
STUFFS OF THE SUBSISTENCE SPHERE, BUT
NOT INTO THE MEN’S PRESTIGE SUB-SPHERE
OR UPWARD INTO THE KULA SPHERE.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY
• MAINLY, THOUGH, THE BUNDLES AND SKIRTS
WERE A MODE OF NON-COMMERCIAL
PAYMENT. A WOMAN WAS OBLIGATED TO GIVE
SKIRTS TO HER BROTHER’S WIFE, AND BOTH
BUNDLES AND SKIRTS WERE IMPORTANT
MORTUARY PAYMENTS. WOMEN OF THE
DECEASED’S MATRILINEAGE COMPETED WITH
ONE ANOTHER IN GIVING HUGE QUANTITIES OF
THESE ITEMS TO THEIR AFFINAL KIN
(ESPECIALLY TO THE DECEASED’S SPOUSE,
FATHER AND FATHER’S SISTERS), WHO BORE THE
MAIN BURDEN OF PUBLIC MOURNING.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY

HOW BUNDLES WERE

ARRANGED IN THE TIMES
OF NEED?
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‘THE KEY TO FINDING LARGE AMOUNTS OF
BUNDLES IS A WOMAN’S HUSBAND …
BECAUSE A WOMAN AND HER HUSBAND
RECEIVE YAMS FROM HER BROTHER
EVERY YEAR, HER HUSBAND MUST HELP
HER FIND BUNDLES WHENEVER SOMEONE
[OF HER MATRILINEAGE] DIES’
(WEINER1988: 119–20). HE DID SO BY AN
UPWARD CONVERSION OF HIS
SUBSISTENCE-SPHERE ITEMS (YAMS, PIGS,
CRAFT GOODS) INTO BUNDLES.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY
• THE MEN’S PRESTIGE SUB-SPHERE CONTAINED
STONE AXE BLADES, LARGE CLAY POTS, DISPLAY
YAMS, SHELL BELTS, AND SORCERERS’ SERVICES.
THEIR MONEY FUNCTION WAS LIMITED TO
MODES OF NON-COMMERCIAL PAYMENT,
MAINLY WITH THE AXE BLADES. THESE WERE
USED AS A MARRIAGE PAYMENT (BRIDESWEALTH
INITIALLY AND SPORADIC GIFTS THEREAFTER FOR
THE DURATION OF THE MARRIAGE). SOME OF THE
ITEMS OF THIS SUB-SPHERE COULD BE
CONVERTED DOWNWARD INTO PIGS, YAMS,
CRAFTS ETC, BUT THEY COULD NOT BE TRADED
FOR WOMEN’S SKIRTS AND BUNDLES.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY

(C) KULA
• THE KULA SPHERE
COMPRISED TWO KINDS OF
MEN’S HEIRLOOM SHELL
VALUABLES, ARMSHELLS
AND NECKLACES, WHICH
WERE EXCHANGED BY
HEREDITARY KULA
PARTNERS ON A CHAIN OF
ISLANDS ABOUT 700 MILES
IN CIRCUMFERENCE.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY
• KULA CONTAINS SYMBOLIC
VALUE DEPICTING THE
POWERFUL STATUS OF THE
PERSON CARRYING IT. THE
PEOPLE WHO TRAVEL WITH
THE SHELLS ARE AGENTS OR
PARTNERS OF POWERFUL MEN,
USUALLY ARISTOCRATS, IN THE
VARIOUS ISLANDS. KULA
VALUABLES ARE ALWAYS
NAMED AFTER THEIR FORMER
OWNERS. THE MAIN
MOTIVATION FOR ITS
CIRCULATION AT DISTANT
ISLANDS IS QUEST FOR FAME.
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SOCIAL TOTALITY

• KULA SHELLS WERE OCCASIONALLY

CONVERTED DOWNWARD INTO
SUBSISTENCE SPHERE OR TO MEET
MEN’S OBLIGATIONS (FOR EXAMPLE,
BRIDE WEALTH, BLOOD
COMPENSATION) IN THE DOMESTIC
PRESTIGE SPHERE.