Thursday we will wrap up our discussion of the Odyssey with debate about the climax of the plot–the slaying of the suitors. As for additional readings for Thursday, please read at least pages 335-41 of the article by Lygia Sigaud “The vicissitudes of The Gift,” Social Anthropology 10.3 (2002), 335-358. This is a summary of [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Sigaud’
Reading Assignment for Thursday, Feb. 3rd
Posted in reading assignments, tagged Finley, gifts, Homer, Mauss, Odyssey, Sigaud on February 3, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Mauss and reciprocity
Posted in commentary, tagged Bible, gifts, Lamech, lex talionis, Mauss, reciprocity, Sigaud on February 7, 2009 | 4 Comments »
As Lygia Sigaud points out in Social Anthropology, Marcel Mauss’ work on gift exchange lead to the development of a theory of reciprocity, a notion of gift and counter-gift as two sides of a symmetrical relationship. However, she goes on, Mauss himself never spoke of reciprocity in and of itself, and symmetrical or commensurate value [...]
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