Summary: <br> Giving Gifts and the Spirit of Sharing<br> <br> Summary: <br> Why can’t you get rid of that ugly sweater from Grandma? What rules dictate your selection of gifts this holiday season? What is the deal with those freaking pajamas you get every year? In this holiday episode of This Anthropological Life, we discuss the social implications behind giving and receiving gifts, giving in the animal kingdom, bad gifts, altruism, and the primordial debt. Consider this our gift to you and reciprocate with a review or a donation on our secure <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucGF5cGFsLmNvbS9kb25hdGUvP3Rva2VuPUdFTXBoSXQ2bGJvSWZabDV4MnozeW1QSEN0VUhaZl9IOU5TRW9xblJZNGw5M1dLeF8tWTZqR09jTE92dE5kSVdSMU9ndEc%3D&feed-stats-url-post-id=1994">Paypal page</a>! We would love to hear from you! <br> <br> Vocab<br> <br> <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvSW5hbGllbmFibGVfcG9zc2Vzc2lvbnM%3D&feed-stats-url-post-id=1994">Inalienable Possessions</a> are objects that are connected to the social identity of the original owner even after death (i.e. a wedding ring that has been passed down from mother to daughter within a family, patrimonial objects).<br> <br> <br> <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvSGF1Xyhzb2Npb2xvZ3kp&feed-stats-url-post-id=1994">Hau</a> the spirit of the Gift, is the idea that there is something imbued in the object itself that animates it, thus its own desires must be incorporated in the exchange as well as the giver and receiver’s.<br> <br> <br> <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYW1hem9uLmNvbS9EZWJ0LUZpcnN0LTUtMDAwLVllYXJzL2RwLzE2MTIxOTEyOTA%3D&feed-stats-url-post-id=1994">The Primordial Debt</a> is the debt we owe to something beyond ourselves (i.e. the sacred, deities, gods, etc.) for setting the conditions for creation.<br> <br> Giving in Nature:<br> Gift giving is a practice that we see paralleled in the natural world. In particular, <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGVkLmNvbS90YWxrcy9mcmFuc19kZV93YWFsX2RvX2FuaW1hbHNfaGF2ZV9tb3JhbHM%2FbGFuZ3VhZ2U9ZW4%3D&feed-stats-url-post-id=1994">chimpanzees are known to find more value in the social act of giving food</a>. Experiments dealing with this topic have found that chimpanzees tend to make decisions that would benefit others in order to strengthen their social ties. <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g%2Fdj1JMXFIVlZiWUc4WQ%3D%3D&feed-stats-url-post-id=1994">Even cats bring their owners dead mice to show affection</a>, while this is not necessarily occurring at the same level as the chimp. There is still some idea of wanting to give back or show affection. <br> In these examples, we see that what is being given is strongly tied to what the giver deems valuable.<br> “Based on what the being would want for itself. Like cats really enjoy dead mice, and of course with the chimps with grapes you have more sugar, so it is probably tastier. So it seems that with people we base our gifts on what we would want to receive”<br> The Gift – Mauss<br> When discussing the social implications behind gift giving it is almost impossible to get through a full conversation without discussing <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2kvTWFyY2VsX01hdXNz&feed-stats-url-post-id=1994">Marcel Mauss</a>. Mauss wrote the foundational book on gift-giving, <a href="http://thisanthrolife.com/?feed-stats-url=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYW1hem9uLmNvbS9HaWZ0LUZ1bmN0aW9ucy1FeGNoYW5nZS1BcmNoYWljLVNvY2lldGllcy9kcC8xNjE0MjcwMThY&feed-stats-url-post-id=1994">The Gift</a>. In The Gift, Mauss discusses gift-giving as a tool for creating and maintaining social bonds through the reciprocal nature of gifts.
