Exchange and Reciprocity Practice

Documented systems of ceremonial or reciprocal exchange studied as founding cases in economic anthropology, the domain Marcel Mauss Essai sur le don and Bronislaw Malinowski's own Trobriand fieldwork established: the gift economy as the general category, the Kula ring, Malinowski's own documented ceremonial exchange circuit of shell valuables across the Trobriand Islands, and the potlatch, the competitive ceremonial gift-giving and property-destruction feast of Pacific Northwest Coast societies. Belongs here: a documented practice whose primary content is ceremonial or reciprocal exchange. Does not belong here: a payment specifically tied to marriage, grouped under Marriage and Alliance Practice.