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'Indian Gift' Author(S): Jonathan Parry Source: Man, New Series, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Sep., 1986), Pp

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'Indian Gift' Author(S): Jonathan Parry Source: Man, New Series, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Sep., 1986), Pp The Gift, the Indian Gift and the 'Indian Gift' Author(s): Jonathan Parry Source: Man, New Series, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Sep., 1986), pp. 453-473 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2803096 Accessed: 08-04-2015 07:23 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Man. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 130.223.251.15 on Wed, 08 Apr 2015 07:23:22 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GIFT, THE INDIAN GIFT AND THE 'INDIAN GIFT'* JONATHAN PARRY London School ofEconomics & Political Science This articlecriticises much of the conventionalexegesis of Mauss's celebratedEssai surle don, and proposes a ratherdifferent reading of the textwhich stressesits evolutionaryaspects. The Hindu 'law ofthe gift' is shownto have a keyrole in thestructure of Mauss's argument,though in factit is quite inconsistentwith his centralthesis. In thisparticular instance he was rightwhere anthropologistshave generallythought him wrong, and wrong where anthropologistshave generallythought him right.In the Maori case, however,his interpretationhas much more to recommendit than has generallybeen recognised.Hindu and Maori ideologies of exchange representfundamentally opposed types;and it is suggestedthat we mightbegin to accountfor this kind of contrastin termsof broad differencesin politico-economy,and-more especially-in terms of the contrastbetween a World Religion and the kind of religion characteristicof small-scaletribal society. Following Mauss, an ideology of the 'pure' giftis shown to be inseparablefrom the ideology of thepurely interested individual pursuit of utility,and to emerge in parallelto it. SirRaymond Firth recalls that on hisway to Tikopia he had to relyfor transport and hospitalityon theMelanesian Mission, and was forsome weeks theguest of theBishop on theMission yacht. As we travelledtogether among the islands we discussedmany problems of human relationship in the islandcommunities. Malinowski had only recentlypublished his book Crimeand Customin SavageSociety in whichhe stressedthe importance of reciprocity as a forceof binding obligation in Melanesian social organization.. The Bishop borrowed the book fromme, read it, and stronglydisagreed. He arguedvehemently that Melanesians, like other people he said,performed manyacts forothers freely and withoutthought of return. and he deniedthe implication of self-interestedaction. We arguedamicably about thisand otherthemes. At lastthe time came forhim to land me on thebeach of Tikopia and leave me to myfate. He had shownme many kindnesses,which I could notrepay . he was retiringfrom the Mission after many years and we both knew thatit was unlikelythat we shouldever meet again. As he said goodbye,leaving me alone in this remote communityhe shook me firmlyby the hand, said gruffly'No reciprocity!',turned his back and walkedoff down thebeach to theboat (FirthI973: 400-I). This vignetteof the knightand the bishop, sailingover a distanttropical sea engaged in earnestdebate over the thesisof an expatriatePolish Professor, providesme withan aptintroduction to my centraltheme-for I wish to speak of ideologiesof reciprocity and non-reciprocity,of the 'Indian gift' and theIndian gift. *The MalinowskiMemorial Lecture, I985 Man (N.S.) 21, 453-73 This content downloaded from 130.223.251.15 on Wed, 08 Apr 2015 07:23:22 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 454 JONATHAN PARRY In Argonautsof the Western Pacific (I922: I76-9I), Malinowski rangestrans- actions along a continuumfrom 'pure gifts'to 'real barter'.The concept of reciprocityis central;but it has not hardenedinto the dogma it subsequently becamein Crimeand custom in savage society (I926), wherethe notion of'pure gift' is retracted.Taking a sufficientlylong-term view, we shallfind that even with regardto transactionsbetween a Trobriandman and his wifeand children'the mutual services balance' (I926: 4I) for 'keen self-interestand a watchful reckoning. runsright through' (p. 27). Ratherthan being slave to custom, the 'savage' is as cannyas the 'civilisedbusinessman' and has quite as sharpan eye forthe main chance. He cares more, it is true,for prestige than material pay-offs;and though he is certainlynot Economic Man, he is nonetheless MaximisingMan. Obligationsare kept because 'the chain of reciprocal gifts and counter-gifts. (benefit)both sides equally' (p. 40); and because the costsof reneguingon themare too greatin termsof 'self-interest,ambition and vanity' (p. 67). Supernaturalsanctions are eitherabsent altogether(p. 5I), or are relativelyeasily evaded by meansof counter-magic(p. 8o). The various elementsin this model-the tendencyto see exchanges as essentiallydyadic transactions between self-interested individuals, and as premissed on some kindof balance;the tendency to play down supernaturalsanctions, and the total contemptfor questions of origin-all theseconstituted an important legacy of Malinowski's teaching,and directlyor indirectlyexercised a major influenceover much of the subsequent literature.In Firth's writings,for example,we notonly find all Malinowski'smistrust of the sanctioning power of 'reconditebeliefs' (Firth I929: 4I 5), butalso a similaremphasis on theindividual choice-makingactor (e.g. FirthI 967). The same influencecan also be seen in Leach's criticismof Levi-Strauss's (I969) thesisthat ranked regimes of generalised exchange are inherently unstable sincethey inhibit a closureof thematrimonial cycle. Although the wife-givers may not receive womenin exchange, says Leach, the rule of reciprocityis nonethelessmaintained since they are compensatedby all kinds of counter- prestationsof a differentnature; and itis forthis reason that the Kachin system is not in factsubject to the kind of instabilityenvisaged by Levi-Strauss(Leach I96I: 90). So while Levi-Strauss'smodel of generalisedexchange is based on a systemof indirectreciprocity and-relative to systemsof restrictedexchange -presupposes an expansionof trustand credit,Leach's alternativeinvites us to view thesituation in termsof an endlesssequence of dyadic exchanges which are in thelong termbalanced. Instead of a speculativeventure, exchange is a quidpro quobased on a certaintyof returns. Similarassumptions are builtinto Blau's (I967) discussionof exchangeand power, and Weiner's (I976, I980) criticismsof Sahlins. Both operatewith a similarpremiss of balanceso thatwhen-in Blau's case-the exchangeitself is notbalanced, the deficitis compensatedfor by an incrementin power to the creditorwhich restores the equilibrium. Both assumethat exchange takes place betweencalculating individuals, so thatWeiner can claim thatwith what she calls the'gift myth', the anthropologist is merely'perpetuating and creatingan imageof"the primitive" as a person,or "primitivesociety" as a way oflife, that has survivedon some fundamentalprinciple other than self-interest' (I976: 22I). This content downloaded from 130.223.251.15 on Wed, 08 Apr 2015 07:23:22 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions JONATHAN PARRY 455 It would be tedious, but not difficult,to multiplyexamples. The general messagewould be thesame. The giftis alwaysan 'Indiangift'-that is, one 'for whichan equivalentreturn is expected'1-and thenotion of a 'puregift' is mere ideologicalobfuscation which masks the supposedly non-ideological verity that nobodydoes anythingfor nothing. So it is thatanthropology often seems to be endlesslyrediscovering the moral of Mandeville's Fable of thebees. Publick Benefitderives from Private Vice. Societyis createdby, and itscohesion results from, an endless sequence of exchanges in which all pursues their own advantage(however conceived). All this may be obvious. But what is perhapsless so is thatthis habit of thoughthas distortedour reading of Mauss's essay on The gift.Though Malinowskiand Mauss are commonlytwinned as thejoint progenitorsof the anthropologicalunderstanding of exchange,it is as well to rememberthat the Durkheimianswere one of Malinowski's main polemicaltargets in Crimeand custom.Yet paradoxicallyMalinowskian premisses are only too oftenread into theMaussian text, which is unconsciouslyprocessed through a theoreticalfilter borrowedfrom his distinguishedcontemporary. Mauss'sgift Mauss's essay has acquiredfor anthropology many of the qualitiesof a sacred text.It is treatedwith reverential awe, thegreater part of its teaching is ignored, and it is claimedas thefonset origo of quitedivergent theoretical positions. It has been cited as a forerunnerof Barth's transactionalism(Kapferer I976: 3); as demonstratingan underlyingcontinuity between gift and commodityexchange (FirthI973: 370) andas demonstratingthe opposite (Gregory I983: i8 sq.). It has beenfound to containan implicitevolutionary model 'remarkablyparallel to Marx's argumentin Grundrisse'(Hart I983: 46), whileLevi-Strauss-modestly avoiding claims to the mantleofJoshua-likens Mauss to Moses leading his people into thePromised Land of Structuralism,though
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