Enigma of the gift
- Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1999
- vii, 256 p. ; ill., 23 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
This work reassesses the significance of gifts in social life by focusing on sacred objects which are never exchanged despite the value they possess. It presents an analysis of the seminal work of Marcel Mauss and Claude Levi-Strauss, and drawing on his own fieldwork in Melanesia, Maurice Godelier argues that traditional theories are flawed because they consider only exchangeable gifts. By explaining gift-giving in terms of sacred objects and the power associated with them, Godelier challenges both recent and traditional theories of gift-giving.
9780226300450
Ceremonial exchange Economic anthropology Cultural and social anthropology Interpretation