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Cited by 35Anthropological Studies and InsightsCross-Cultural and Social AnalysisPacific and Southeast Asian Studies

Inalienable ethnography: keeping‐while‐giving and the Trobriand case

Mosko, Mark S.·2000·Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
DOI 10.1111/1467-9655.00022
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Abstract

In Inalienable possessions , Annette Weiner (1992) focuses on the paradox of ‘keeping‐while‐giving’ rather than the ‘norm of reciprocity’ as the central issue of social life, drawing heavily on Trobriand examples. In this article, key elements of Weiner’s theory are contrasted with prevailing views of Melanesian personhood and agency and with canonical Western notions of exchange, and her use of the Trobriand materials is juxtaposed with previously published ethnographic accounts of the same practices. It is argued that Weiner’s ethnographic illustrations do not lend support to her theory of inalienable possessions; that her conceptual framework is at considerable variance with well‐founded understandings of Melanesian sociality; and that the paradox of keeping‐while‐giving is more appropriately seen as deriving from Western presuppositions of individual boundedness, subjectivity, possession, ownership, and hierarchy, and the need to establish permanence in an entropic world.

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  • The mats lose this imprint soon after joining the often enormous piles of textiles, illustrating the fleeting nature of inalienability.

    “The mats lose this imprint soon after joining the often enormous piles of textiles, illustrating the fleeting nature of inalienability (cf. Laidlaw 2000 ; Mosko 2000 ).”

    From When gifts become commodities: pawnshops, valuables, and shame in Tonga and the Tongan diaspora (2008) · cites this paper as Mosko 2000

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Authors
Mosko, M. S.
Affiliations
University of Auckland (NZ)
Corresponding author
Mosko, Mark S.
Venue
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2000-09
Volume
6
Issue
3
Pages
377-396
ISSN
  • 1359-0987 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9655
DOI
10.1111/1467-9655.00022
OpenAlex
W1974497279
Cited by
35
References
21
Citations by year
2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
FWCI
10.57
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 941 d)
Locations
  • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (publishedVersion)
  • ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Anthropological Studies and Insights
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Cross-Cultural and Social Analysis
  • Social Sciences › Geography, Planning and Development › Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
Keywords
inalienable possession, reciprocity, Trobriand Islanders, agency, exchange, ownership, hierarchy, ethnographic theory

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