Exchange and social organization in Nanumea, a Polynesian atoll society [microform]
- Bib ID:
- 3287513
- Format:
- Book and Microform
- Author:
- Chambers, Anne Fauvre
- Description:
- 237 p.
- Summary:
-
This study examines the interplay between exchange practices and social organization in Nanumea, a small atoll society in Tuvalu, Western Polynesia. In Nanumea, commercial exchange modes are of limited importance and frequent transfers of material goods are expected to underwrite social relationships. Patterns of sharing and reciprocal exchange within the community are documented, analyzed and related to local values and institutions. Ecological constraints, including the atoll's small size, isolation, limited resources and recurrent droughts, are also considered. Nanumeans distinguish between balanced transactions such as 'sale' and 'barter' (which they conceptualize as 'exchange') and two types of solidary, open-ended transfers which are best translated as 'gifts' and 'requests'. 'Gifts' and 'requests' are seen as the appropriate exchange mode between community members, particularly between those linked by ties of kinship and neighborliness.
Although varieties of gifts are not lexically distinguished in Nanumea, three etic subtypes were developed to facilitate analysis. These include the sharing of basic subsistence items, standardized prestations made in response to role obligations, and contributions to community projects. A year-long survey of household exchange practices, involving a stratified sample including 13% of community households, showed that most transactions consisted of 'gifts' and 'requests'. Trade or purchases from individuals were rare. Kinship and residential distance structured the type of 'gift' transferred, and households' productive potentials correlated well with their exchange performances. Nanumeans value solidarity and equality, while the community's behavioral norms stress cooperation, modesty and responsibility for others' well-being. Diffuse and specific exchange obligations provide an accepted means of putting this ideology into practice and channel the choices individuals make.
Four characteristic exchange strategies are described, ranging from consistent generosity to outright refusal. Sharing, the predominant exchange mode in Nanumea, balances donor's resources against recipient needs by emphasizing the obligation to give. Unlike true reciprocal exchange, the return obligation is incidental. The Nanumean case thus provides strong support for the addition of sharing as a fourth mode of exchange to the standard triad recognized by anthropologists.
- Notes:
-
- (UnM)AAI8413333
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-03, Section: A, page: 0878.
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, Berkeley, 1983.
- Reproduction:
- Microfiche. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International.
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Cultural
- Other authors/contributors:
- University of California, Berkeley
- Copyright:
-
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