An Overview of Rossel Island Exchange

Authors

• John Liep University of Copenhagen

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.116561

Abstract

FORUM: A DISCUSSION OF JOHN LIEP’S RECENT BOOK, A PAPUAN PLUTOCRACY: RANKED EXCHANGE ON ROSSEL ISLAND (2009)

 

In September 2009 a group of scholars met at Aarhus University, Copenhagen, for the defence of Mag. Scient. John Liep’s doctoral thesis, published by  Aarhus University Press under the title, A Papuan Plutocracy: Ranked Exchange on Rossel Island (2009). The book is the first full-scale modern ethnography of the well-known shell money system on Rossel Island—one of the most complex such systems on record. Liep’s ethnography is very powerful, but more than that, the book is built around an ambitious and unusual critique of notions of reciprocity and the gift economy that are of great general importance. Liep’s three examiners were Joel Robbins, Chris Gregory and Ton Otto. In light of the depth of debate that marked the occasion of the defence, there was a  eneral feeling that the discussion deserved a wider forum. The result is the texts that are published together here.