Question

Reciprocity and the Power of Giving
LEE CRONK
Summary Cronk argues that everywhere in the world, gifts are used positively to establish and maintain social relationships, but also negatively to intimidate and fight others. These characteristics apply just as fully to gift exchange in industrial societies as they do for other peoples.
Anthropologists learned about the complexities of gift giving through first-hand experience during fieldwork. Richard Lee's !Kung informants criticized his gift of an ox, saying the ox was thin and inadequate when clearly it was not. (See article 2 in Conformity and Conflict). Rada Dyson-Hudson met with a similar reaction when she attempted to give pots to her Turkana informants. Cronk also experienced the same reaction when he gave clothing to the Mukogodo, who elaborate the act of gift exchange more than do most people. In every case, informants attached different meanings to gift giving than did the anthropologists..
Gift giving has several dimensions, including how the gift is received and how it is reciprocated. Often "to reciprocate at once indicates a desire to end the relationship," Cronk points out. He also notes that some gift giving arrangements, such as hxaro among the !Kung, are designed solely to maintain a friendly relationship. In addition, the worth of gifts may not be taken into account. The Trobriand kula ring, involving shell necklaces and armbands, represents one of the most elaborate gift exchanges ever described by anthropologists.
Gift giving may not always be benevolent. The Kwakiutl potlatch, where rivals tried to "flatten" each other with gifts, is a good example. Potlatching actually became a substitute for war after the Canadian government suppressed real fighting.
Reciprocal gift giving is also important in U.S. society. Examples include a form of benevolent gift giving, called swapping among African Americans living in an area of Illinois called the flats. Scientific papers, usually referred to as contributions, are really gifts and have higher value than those papers written for money. Even the citations of other people's work so liberally scattered throughout academic papers may be viewed as a form of gift exchange.
Gifts may also be used to manipulate people, as Grace Goodell documents for a World Bank-funded project in Iran. The gift of an irrigation project crushed local level political organizations and shifted control to the central government. International relations often involve gift giving. The "concessions" made between the U.S. and Soviet governments during disarmament negotiations several years ago are a good example. Cronk concludes by pointing out that American Indians understood the gift's power to unify, antagonize, or subjugate and that all of us would do well to learn the same lesson.
In "Reciprocity and the Power of Giving," Cronk reports that no matter how little he gave his Mukogodo informants while he was doing fieldwork, they always seemed grateful, which led to a warmer, more trusting relationship demonstrating the positive power of giving.

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