A Feast in Nuyoo: People and
Their Things
SYSTEMS OF EXCHANGE
Saa sa’a…
 In order to host a feast the mayordomos recruit
items from other households in order to have enough
to complete the expectations of the feast. They are
able to do this because they themselves, as a couple,
have been contributing to other mayordomos feasts
for a time. When it is their turn to host the other
households come forth with tribute. Through the
sharing of food the people become, symbolically,
members of one household. Unless, of course, there
is a clump of hair in a tortilla!
Marcel Mauss, “The Gift”…

“In primitive or archaic types of society what is the
principle whereby the gift received has to be repaid? What
force is there in the thing given which compels the recipient
to make a return?”
‘I shall tell you about hau. Hau is not the wind. Not at all. Suppose you have
some particular object, taonga, and you give it to me; you give it to me without a
price. We do not bargain over it. Now I give this thing to a third person who after a
time decides to give me something in repayment for it (utu), and he makes me a
present of something (taonga). Now this taonga I received from him is the spirit
(hau) of the taonga I received from you and which I passed on to him. The taonga
which I receive on account of the taonga that came from you, I must return to you. It
would not be right on my part to keep these taonga whether they were desirable or
not. I must give them to you since they are the hau of the taonga which you gave
me. If I were to keep this second taonga for myself I might become ill or even die.
Such is hau, the hau of personal property, the hau of the taonga, the hau of the
forest. Enough on that subject.’
Tamati Ranaipiri, Maori informant to Mr. Elsdon Best, from ‘Forest-Lore’,
in Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, XLII, 435.
Forms of Reciprocity and Exchange
 Generalized Reciprocity
 Balanced Reciprocity
 Negative Reciprocity

These types of exchange are mediated by social distance
The Politics of Exchange
…to create an obligation. Reciprocal exchanges are
designed to forge ties between affinal kin groups,
between non-related groups.
The feast in Nuyoo is reflective of traditional
economy. It is about having a successful feast and
creating solidarity among the families or kin groups.
But what if there is a breach of protocol or a
trangression of some sort? Potential for tension
(witchcraft).
Reciprocal transactions are not always perfectly
symmetrical, nor do they imply equality between the giver
and receiver.
If you give a gift and receive less than you expect, you
feel slighted. The transaction should be appropriate to the
social distance between the parties involved. If not there will
be tension.
H. M. Djafar Amyn would not eat! The villagers
complained “If he won’t eat anything , how can we ask him
to help us?”
Silent trade…negative reciprocity
 What about trade between antagonistic groups?
They don’t like each other and don’t wish to have
contact.

Mbuti of the rainforest of the Congo and their agricultural
neighbors the Ndembu… exchange with villagers in
neighboring groups in which they place the items for exchange
in a predetermined spot, then hide at a distance and wait for
the other group to make an offer of their goods. Bartering may
continue back and forth, but no direct contact is made between
groups.
Northwest Coast Potlatch…
 Warring with property?
 The potlatch was a demonstration of social and economic
power. To have the ability, the strength, to give it all away and
not be affected by your loss was to be the most powerful and
led to great honor.
 However the Canadian government saw the potlatch another
way and it was banned in 1885.
 The issue of economics was simple in the notion that the native
desire to give away all their goods was the opposite of the
“Christian capitalist” values held in high esteem by EuroCanadians. Missionary William Duncan wrote in 1875 that the
potlatch was "by far the most formidable of all obstacles in the
way of Indians becoming Christians, or even civilized."
Reciprocity as form of Economy
 Market exchange as the basis for human economic
life is a very narrow view of how human societies
move wealth and/or product around.
 A full understanding of economic life in many
societies would have to take account of a range of
non-market transactions such as marriage payments,
gift exchange, tribute, sacrifice, etc.