A Gift Economy: G. W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box (1929)

2021 ◽  
pp. 23-54
Keyword(s):  
Gift Economy

Elicüra: The “Feasts of Merit” Shawl of the Chakhesang Naga of Northeast India

2021 ◽  
pp. 0972558X2199079
Author(s):  
Yekha-ü ◽  
Queenbala Marak
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Northeast India ◽  
Symbolic Meaning ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Gift Economy ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right

Feasts of Merit are an important social way of life among different tribes in the world, especially in Southeast Asia. In Northeast India, the different Naga tribes were well-known for this practice before the advent of Christianity. However, among the Chakhesang Nagas, after the advent of Christianity, the practices of giving feasts continue to this day with minor modifications in terms of rituals and taboos while the symbolic meaning and values behind this practice are retained. The Feasts of Merit, among them, are intricately connected to their worldview, whereby the feast-givers distribute their wealth in terms of sacrificing mithun, buffalo, and/or other livestock, in consecutive feasts, and receiving in return a higher social rank and the right to wear a special shawl (“Feasts of Merit” shawl), variously known as hapidasa, elicüra, and thüpikhü and the right to adorn the house with special architecture (mithun and buffalo wood carvings on the wall, and to put up a horn at the pinnacle of the house front). This article discusses the “Feasts of Merit” shawl and how it is connected intrinsically to the ethos of the tribe, and in doing so it states that the Chakhesang feasts can be looked upon as gift economy.

EXPRESS: The Gift of Data: Industry-Led Food Reformulation and the Obesity Crisis in Europe

2020 ◽  
pp. 074391562098384
Author(s):  
Norah Campbell ◽  
Sarah Browne ◽  
Marius Claudy ◽  
Melissa Mialon ◽  
Hercberg Serge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Processed Food ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Intelligence System ◽  
Gift Economy ◽  
Nutrition Policies ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Marketing Intelligence ◽  
The Impact

Ultra-processed food manufacturers have proposed that product reformulation should be a key strategy to tackle obesity. In determining the impact of reformulation on population dietary behaviours, policy makers are often dependant on data provided by these manufacturers. Where such data are “gifted” to regulators there may be an implicit expectation of reciprocity that adversely influences nutrition policies. We sought to assess Europe’s industry-led reformulation strategy in five countries deploying critical policy studies as an approach. We found that interim results on industry-led food reformulation did not meet their targets. Information asymmetries exist between food industry and policy makers: the latter are not privy to marketing intelligence and must instead rely on data that are voluntarily donated by food industry actors. These data represent a distorted snippet of the marketing intelligence system from whence they came. Because these data indeed bear all the hallmarks of a gift, regulatory and public health authorities operate within a gift economy. The implications of this “data gift economy” are strategic delay and goal-setting when the field is not visible. Ultimately, this could diminish the implementation of public health nutrition policies that are contrary to the commercial interests of ultra-processed food producers.

The Medieval Economy of Salvation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Charitable Giving ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Charitable Organizations ◽  
Local Economies ◽  
Gift Economy ◽  
Lay Women ◽  
Emerging Culture ◽  
Charitable Institution ◽  
New Institutions

This book shows how the burgeoning commercial economy of western Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, alongside an emerging culture of Christian charity, led to the establishment of hundreds of hospitals and leper houses. Focusing on the county of Champagne, the book looks at the ways in which charitable organizations and individuals saw in these new institutions a means of infusing charitable giving and service with new social significance and heightened expectations of spiritual rewards. Hospitals served as visible symbols of piety and, as a result, were popular objects of benefaction. They also presented lay women and men with new penitential opportunities to personally perform the works of mercy, which many embraced as a way to earn salvation. At the same time, these establishments served a variety of functions beyond caring for the sick and the poor; as benefactors donated lands and money to them, hospitals became increasingly central to local economies, supplying loans, distributing food, and acting as landlords. In tracing the rise of the medieval hospital during a period of intense urbanization and the transition from a gift economy to a commercial one, the book makes clear how embedded this charitable institution was in the wider social, cultural, religious, and economic fabric of medieval life.

The “Lucky Money” That Started It All—The Reinvention of the Ancient Tradition “Red Packet” in Digital Times

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630512110416
Author(s):  
Yusi (Aveva) Xu
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Social Medium ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Virtual Groups ◽  
Gift Economy ◽  
Active User ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
The Way

In August 2020, President Trump attempted to ban WeChat, indicating the growing impact of the most widely used social medium in China. WeChat enjoys a monthly active user base of 1.2 billion, but the Internet giant’s story started with a humble function, “Red Packet.” The function of Red Packet paved the way for WeChat to intelligently integrate into the Chinese financial sphere. This study examines the cultural, economic, and relational implications of the digital reinvention of traditional red packet gifts, and monetary giving that represents good luck and well wishes in festive situations. Drawing upon Mauss’ conceptualization of gift economy within the context of contemporary China and the art of social relationships, “ guanxi,” the author closely examines Tencent’s annual report and conducts semi-structured interviews to study WeChat Red Packet (hereafter WCRP) gifting. This article concludes that (1) the obligatory feeling of guanxi management renders WCRP giving, receiving, and reciprocity compulsory practices; (2) WCRP facilitates “immediate reciprocity,” in which, instrumental guanxi may be produced and dissolved instantaneously; (3) the phenomena of social comparison and social hierarchy are mirrored in virtual groups; (4) with platformed sociality and monetizing connectivity, WCRP paved the way for alternative economic practices within Chinese authoritarian capitalism; and (5) WCRP contains characteristics of a personalized gift and materialist commodity.

scholarly journals OPTIMIZATION OF ZAKAT FUND MANAGEMENT IN REGIONAL ZAKAT INSTITUTION

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tika Widiastuti ◽  
Imron Mawardi ◽  
Anidah Robani ◽  
Aam Slamet Rusydiana
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Research And Development ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Fund Management ◽  
Threat Analysis ◽  
Gift Economy ◽  
Considerable Research ◽  
Societal Needs ◽  
The Government

Purpose: The implementation of zakat fund management especially in some zakat institutions is considered not optimum yet. This condition is represented by disparity between potential and actual collection. In Islam, the objective of zakat is not only to collect wealth and keep it idle, instead zakat should become a source of productive fund to fulfill societal needs. Some countries with advanced zakat institutions have developed zakat to become a pillar of economic development. Today, each zakat institution is competing against each other to innovate in zakat fund management. Empowerment in zakat institutions with the appropriate strategies will enhance zakat management and distribution for the betterment of zakat recipients (mustahiq) and the Muslim society at large. Design/Methodology/Approach: This research is aimed to analyze optimization of management in regional zakat institution with SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat) analysis approach with IFE-EFE Matrix. Descriptive qualitative analysis is used to explain optimization of fund in zakat institution. Major Findings:Findings of this research shows that zakat institution should improve their strategy by developing strength and turning threat into opportunities. Originality/Value: The study provides a guideline for regional zakat institution on how they can enhance their role and efficiency to boost the economic growth for the Islamic community in Indonesia. It may also be instrumental for the government to improve in efficiency and innovative manpower, considerable research and development in optimizing Islamic Gift Economy to enhance economic growth of the Islamic community of Indonesia.

The Hi-Tech Gift Economy

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Barbrook
Keyword(s):  
Gift Economy
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