essay
Magnitudes and values in kula exchange
Kula : new perspectives on Massim exchange • Cambridge, U.k. • Published In 1983 • Pages: 89-117
By: Firth, Raymond.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Based on his evaluation of Malinowski's earlier data on the Kula exchange in the Trobriands, Firth presents here an historical reconstruction in which he analyzes the relative value of the objects being transferred. Firth notes that it was very unlikely that the matching equivalence of armshells and necklaces circulating in exchange was ever exactly equal, but that factors of flexibility must have been introduced to expedite the transfer of goods between trading partners. Firth concludes that the Kula items '…at least in the higher grades, were more definitely subject to individual claims of control, and less fixed in value in relation to one another, than Malinowski envisaged' (p. 101).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Theoretical orientation in research and its results
- Sociocultural trends
- Gift giving
- Price and value
- Accumulation of wealth
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Trobriands
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1995
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Oceania
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Melanesia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- not specified
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Papua New Guinea
- NotesAdditional notes
- [by] Raymond Firth
- Bibliography will be found in 36: Leach, Information Sources Listed in Other Works (113)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 82004142
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Trobriand Islanders