Week 6 Reading

Week 6 reading: Review Gifts and the Obligation to Return GiftsThe chapter seems to contradict the gift-giving practices of Samoans and other ancient societies.Themes that followed the potlatch such as greed and rivalry seemed to be absent from Samoan culture.However, the prestige and honor facets of gift-giving were still present. Gift giving needed to be reciprocated so that one does not lose prestige or ‘mana' that came with the practice (Mauss, 2002). Even when they received the property (both masculine and feminine) given at birth, the people were no richer than they were before, but still felt pride in receiving the gifts.Comparisons were also drawn between the Samoan culture and other cultures in terms of honor, for example, the Melanesians and Indians, to the difference in reciprocation in the sense that in some cultures the gift had to be given immediately while in others, the gifts were continual supplementary gifts that had to be repaid on a regular basis. Generally what these cultures had in common was that these gifts were used to form ties with others because the gift is either a person or belongs to a person.In my opinion, the system of reciprocating gifts seems a bit