Bitter money: cultural economy and some African meanings of forbidden commodities

Shipton, Parker MacDonald

Book

Bitter money: cultural economy and some African meanings of forbidden commodities

American Anthropological Association • (1) • Published In 1989 • Pages: vi, 94

By: Shipton, Parker MacDonald.

Abstract
This book is about concepts of money and exchange among the Luo of Kenya. It shows that the Luo, who live in a partly monetized economy and a partly Christianized religious environment, classify cash money into two types. One is 'good', and the other 'evil' money. The later consists of money from land sale and the transaction of other religiously forbidden commodities such as tobacco, cannabis, roosters and gold. Building on anthropological theories of money and the morality of exchange, the book analyzes this classification as a reflection of important conceptual and social tensions, stemming partly from disjunctions between new kinds of private accumulation and other, indigenous forms of economic activity. The Luo conceive of money from forbidden transactions as barren, and ultimately useless to its owners, yet they also ritually transform money between good and evil states.

Medium of exchange

Avoidance and taboo

Purification and atonement

Religious offenses

Cultural identity and pride

Exchange transactions

Gift giving

Ethos

External relations

Acculturation and culture contact

Functional and adaptational interpretations

Missions