Marcel Mauss The Gift

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timer Asked: Dec 1st, 2017

Question Description

each prompt should be fully answered - no word count - 6 writing prompts total - No copy and paste

First, watch these videos

YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38x6kWB-xD4

The next video could be very helpful to you if you are having any trouble getting into Mauss’s

YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAKBcs94ATw


After watching the two videos above, please proceed:

The full text is provided to you in a nicely accessible, searchable scan of an actual book (Here's that URL):
https://archive.org/details/giftformsfunctio00maus

Unformatted Attachment Preview

Writing activity: Marcel Mauss’s The Gift First, watch these videos YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38x6kWB-xD4 The next video could be very helpful to you if you are having any trouble getting into Mauss’s YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAKBcs94ATw After watching the two videos above, please proceed: The full text is provided to you in a nicely accessible, searchable scan of an actual book (Here's that URL): https://archive.org/details/giftformsfunctio00maus Read at least 10 pages from Marcel Mauss's book (using the link below). Choose from these pages: • p. ix (Intro) – functions, meanings, looking at other cultures to understand our own. • p. 3 - (un)natural economies. • p. 6 - mana and the fear of losing mana (or whatever you want to call that 'spirit' or 'primitive magic' or 'nostalgia' or 'sentimental value' that you imagine resides within objects). • pp. 8-16 - (Very important stuff in these eight pages.) • pp. 18 - confusion of personalities and things. • pp. 38-41 - obligations, invitations, and the "monster child." • pp. 63-64 - connecting with life today. • pp. 71 - "payments"...profitable alliances..."far from frigid utilitarian calculation." • pp. 80-81 - "laying down the spear"...King Arthur's Round Table...& civility today. PROMPTS 1. Page 6 of the document linked above speaks about “mana” --- but why? If we don’t tend to speak of mana in our religions or in our spiritual lexicon, or if we don’t believe in mana, what is the value of Mauss’s using this example from another culture? (I am asking for your opinion, but I am also asking you to back up that opinion by using and understanding Mauss’s text. Thank you for diving into this!) Please type your answer here (and cite evidence from the text, not from the videos). 2. What do Kouzes and Posner say about the term “reciprocity” (use the index in their book if needed)? Find one or two other passages which also indicate connections Kouzes and Posner might make between their own work (the recommendations they give) and Mauss’s The Gift? (Provide in-text citations to reinforce your answer.) Please type your answer here (and cite evidence from the text). 3. Let’s think about different kinds of cultural norms for a moment, in regards to giving and receiving materials and favors from others: Define the concept of reciprocity by using a quote or two from Mauss’s book plus your own words (explaining what that quote means). Why is reciprocity, according to Mauss’s text, not the same as “payment” or the “trading of goods and services”? (Remember, in all of these prompts, it’s vital to provide in-text citations with page numbers to reinforce your answer.) Please type your answer here (and cite evidence from the text, not from the videos). 4. Think of “gifts” in your personal life (but not your professional life). Find and quote from one other passage (not the “mana” passage) with page numbers cited, in Marcel Mauss's The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange…, then explain the meaning of that passage in the book. (Don’t just provide the quote, but explain the quote in its context, please!) On page 11 of the Mauss text he states “to refuse to give, or to fail to invite, is like refusing to accept the equivalent of a declaration of war; it is a refusal of friendship and intercourse.” I feel like this comes back around to the obligatory notion that accompanies gift giving. To exclude someone from a gift to not reciprocate or an invitation to an event, wedding, birthday, etc. can make some feel as if they do not matter in the eyes of the gift giver/inviter. When my wife’s cousin was married it was made clear that you must bring a gift to the wedding, or you cannot come. My wife and I bought her cousin and her cousin’s husband a gift but we were treated with resentment by my wife’s cousin and her parents because our gift was not equal in value as the gift she had gotten us for our wedding. That is, it was not equal monetarily in value-sentiment did not matter, apparently. My sister-in-law did not attend the wedding because she could not afford a gift, which became a separate problem completely, and at one point became the focal point of the entire event. It lead to some members of the family ostracizing my sister-in-law for doing what was requested--she did not come to the wedding because she could not afford a gift, but apparently that was not actually an option, it was simply a tactic employed by the cousin to ensure she would be given gifts. 5. Discuss how the passage you quoted above relates to---or helps you understand---the details of your personal experiences (past or present). Make sure you explain your personal experience in some detail---not just in general. (Note: If you used a personal example elsewhere in this assignment, don’t repeat the same example in more than one prompt.) Please type your answer here. 6. Think of your professional experiences with “gifts”: Find one quote (with page numbers cited) in Marcel Mauss's The Gift…, discuss in detail the meaning of that passage within Mauss’s book. Please type your answer here (and cite evidence from the text, not from the videos). 7. How could the quote you found (above) relate to---or help you understand---one of your professional experiences (past or present)? Discuss that professional experience, story, or example from your own life, or from something you have observed or heard about, if you have not had many professional experiences. Please write about it in some detail, in order to make this into a stronger example. Please type your answer here. References Mauss, Marcel. (1966). The gift; forms and functions of exchange in archaic societies. Cohen & West. London.
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