Savage Money Studies in Anthropology and History Studies in Anthropology and History is a series which develops new theoretical perspectives, and combines comparative and ethnographic studies with historical research. Edited by James G.Carrier, University of Durham, UK Associate editors: Nicholas Thomas, The Australian National University, Canberra and Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, University of Wisconsin, USA. VOLUME 1 Structure and Process in a Melanesian Society: Ponam’s Progress in the Twentieth CenturyACHSAH H.CARRIER AND JAMES G.CARRIER VOLUME 2 Androgynous Objects: String Bags and Gender in Central New GuineaMAUREEN ANNE MACKENZIE VOLUME 3 Time and the Work of Anthropology: Critical Essays 1971–1991JOHANNES FABIAN VOLUME 4 Colonial Space: Spatiality in the Discourse of German South West Africa, 1884–1915JOHN NOYES VOLUME 5 Catastrophe and Creation: The Transformation of an African CultureKAJSA EKHOLM FRIEDMAN VOLUME 6 Before Social Anthropology: Essays on the History of British Anthropology JAMES URRY VOLUME 7 The Ghotul in Muria SocietySlMERAN MAN SlNGH GELL VOLUME 8 Global Culture, Island Identity: Continuity and Change in the Afro-CaribbeanCommunity of NevisKAREN FOG OLWIG VOLUME 9 The Return of the Ainu: Cultural Mobilization and the Practice of Ethnicity in JapanKATARINA V.SJÖBERG VOLUME 10 Tradition and Christianity: The Colonial Transformation of a Solomon Islands SocietyBEN BURT VOLUME 11 Recovering the Orient: Artists, Scholars, Appropriationsedited by ANTHONY MILNER AND ANDREW GERSTLE iii VOLUME 12 Women of the Place: Kastom, Colonialism and Gender in VanuatuMARGARET JOLLY VOLUME 13 A History of Curiosity: The Theory of Travel, 1550–1800JUSTIN STAGL VOLUME 14 Exploring Confrontation. Sri Lanka: Politics, Culture and History MlCHAEL ROBERTS VOLUME 15 Consumption and Identityedited by JONATHAN FRIEDMAN VOLUME 16 Resplendent Sites, Discordant Voices: Sri Lankans and International Tourism MALCOLM CRICK VOLUME 17 The Rationality of Rural Life: Economic and Cultural Change in TuscanyJEFF PRATT VOLUME 18 The Textual Life of Savants: Ethnography, Iceland, and the Linguistic Turn GISLI PALSSON VOLUME 19 Narratives of Nation in the South Pacificedited by TON OTTO AND NICHOLAS THOMAS VOLUME 20 Nationalism and Ethnicity in a Hindu Kingdom: The Politics of Culture in Contemporary Nepaledited by DAVID GELLNER, JOANNA PFAFF-CZARNECKA AND JOHN WHELPTON VOLUME 21 Savage Money: The Anthropology and Politics of Commodity ExchangeC.A.GREGORY This book is part of a series. The publisher will accept continuation orders which may be cancelled at any time and which provide for automatic billing and shipping of each title in the series upon publication. Please write for details. C.A.Gregory Savage Money The Anthropology and Politicsof Commodity Exchange harwood academic publishers Australia • Canada • France • Germany • India • Japan • LuxembourgMalaysia • The Netherlands • Russia • Singapore • Switzerland COPYRIGHT © 1997 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) N.V. Published by license under the Harwood Academic Publishers imprint, part of The Gordon and Breach Publishing Group. All rights reserved. First published 1997 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Amsteldijk 166 1st Floor 1079 LH Amsterdam The Netherlands BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA Gregory, C.A. Savage Money: the anthropology and politics of commodity exchange.— (Studies in anthropology and history; v. 21) 1. Money 2. Economics—Sociological aspects I. Title 332.4 ISBN 0-203-98663-6 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 90-5702-092-0 (Print Edition) To Judy, Polly and Melanie Contents List of Figures viii List of Tables ix List of Maps xi Preface xii I. The Value Question 1 II. Beyond Gifts and Commodities 43 III. Land as the Supreme Good 75 IV. Production of Commodities by Means of 123 Goods V. Mercantile Kinship 167 VI. Usury, Interest and Usance 216 VII. Domesticated Money 238 VIII. Savage Money 271 IX. Toward a Radical Humanist Anthropology 304 Bibliography 320 Index 335 List of Figures I.1 The woman in between 30 II.1 The conceptual opposition between gifts and 55 commodities III.1 General form of the marriage settlement among 88 eighteenth century English landlords III.2 Division of a farming household in Bastar 105 III.3 Registered land transfers of a farming household 105 in Bastar III.4 Registered land transfers of a landlord household 109 in Bastar IV.1 The annual cycle in Bastar 134 V.1 Birthplace and residence in a Jain lineage 172 V.2 The boundary lines of a Jain lineage 176 V.3 Kinship relations between ten Jain joint family 185 merchants V.4 Kinship relations of seven Kosaria ‘fancy goods’ 205 merchants V.5 Kinship relations of five Chhatri ‘fancy goods’ 206 merchants V.6 Kinship relations between some Punjabi business 208 houses of Kondagaon VIII.1 US gold stocks and foreign dollar holdings 276 VIII.2 Gold-value of the US dollar 279 VIII.3 Silver prices in Bombay and New York 290 VIII.4 The symbolism of money 301 List of Tables III.1 Land use and population in Bastar, 1931–1991 96 III.2 Minipur village: land use, 1921–1981 97 III.3 Latipur village: land use, 1921–1981 98 III.4 Household ownership of land by size of holding: 98 two villages compared III.5 Household ownership of land by caste and origin: 100 two villages compared III.6 Land transactions in Minipur village, 1921–1981 102 III.7 Land transactions in Latipur village, 1921–1981 103 IV.1 Bastar District: two subdistricts (tahsils) compared 133 IV.2 Minipur village: classification of households by 137 size of rice-surplus (deficit) IV.3 Minipur village: rice-surplus households 139 IV.4 Minipur village: rice-deficit households 143 IV.5 Caste of commission agents (kochiyas) 147 IV.6 Grain merchants: market purchases of paddy 151 October 1982 to January 1983 (quintals) IV.7 Paddy: prices and quantities of paddy purchased 156 by merchants at the Hirapur Thursday market, 1982–83 IV.8 Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee 158 (Mandi): net income IV.9 Kisan rice mill: paddy purchases and rice 160 production IV.10 Kisan rice mill: profits and losses 161 V.1 Glass bangle retail merchants: average daily sales 198 and profits, February 1983 V.2 Glass bangle retail merchants: numbers by caste 201 and gender V.3 Glass bangle wholesaler: effect of credit on sales 204 VIII.1 Impact of higher gold prices on the valuation of 287 foreign reserves, 1985 x VIII.2 Impact of higher gold prices on the distribution of 287 foreign reserves, 1985 VIII.3 Distribution of gold reserves 288 VIII.4 Distribution of paper reserves 288 List of Maps III.1 Parcelisation of land in a Russian village 91 III.2a Bisram’s parcelised holding in 1922 107 III.2b Division of Bisram’s holding by 1982 108 IV.1 Relative importance of periodic markets in terms of 150 grain purchased by merchants IV.2 Market areas of grain merchants 153 V.1 Territorial expansion of a Jain lineage 173 V.2 Market areas of silver merchants who travel by jeep 191 V.3 Market areas of some glass bangle merchants who 199 travel by public transport V.4 Market areas of two merchants who travel by foot 210 Preface This book has been a long time in the making and I have incurred many debts. They begin with Alfred and Simeran Gell who introduced me to Bastar District, India. I first went there in 1981 for a few weeks and returned a year later for an extended fieldtrip as part of Alfred’s project on rural marketing in Bastar. This research was funded by the then SSRC (Social Science Research Council) of the UK. This funding gave me a two year (1982–83) research fellowship in the Department of Anthropology at the London School of Economics (LSE) and enabled me to spend 13 months in India learning Hindi and conducting field research. I am very grateful to these institutions for their support, to Alfred and Simeran for their friendship and generosity, and to my former colleagues at LSE for providing such a lively intellectual climate in which to work. Prior to taking up the LSE fellowship I was a research fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge, where my colleagues helped me in many ways. I am particularly grateful to Polly Hill who has taught me much about agrarian relations in the areas of India and Africa where she has worked. John Harvey suggested that Savage Money would be a good title for a book many years ago; however, it was only after I had written the first draft of this book that I recalled his suggestion and realised that Savage Money would be a fitting title. In India I was based in the small market town of Kondagaon where I met countless people who were extremely generous with their time and assistance. I am indebted to our Dewangan, Dureja and other neighbours in Sargipalpara, the Muslim, Gujerati, Punjabi and Marwari shopkeepers in the main street, and the many merchants both big and small in the xiii weekly markets who fed me, talked to me, and travelled with me to the many markets in the local area. I am particularly indebted to Mali Guruji who taught me about village life in the Bare Dongar area. Particular mention must also be made of Jaidev Baghel, the founder of the Paramparik Bastar Shilpi Parivar (The Bastar Aboriginal Artisans Association) of Bhelwapadapara, Kondagaon. He was my host on a return visit to Bastar in the long vacation of 1989– 90.