Conflicting Values: Reciprocity and its defiance in Melanesia—John Liep responds to discussion of his book A Papuan Plutocracy: Ranked Exchange on Rossel Island in Suomen Antropologi 34 (4)

Authors

• John Liep University of Copenhagen

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.127494

Abstract

In this paper I propose to show that in a Melanesian society reciprocity may be held as a value and practiced in important forms of ceremonial exchange institutions. Nevertheless, there is at the same time a dominance of senior big men through their control of the exchange of high-ranking wealth and through their manipulation of a complex finance system. Reciprocity and inequality may be intertwined in social life. My argument is in direct response to a critique from Robbins. In a Forum in this journal on my book, A Papuan Plutocracy: Ranked Exchange on Rossel Island (2009), he raised an important point (Robbins 2009). The main theme of my book is the complex system of ranked exchange on Rossel Island, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. My analysis, however, has also led me towards a critique of the principle of reciprocity and of theories of gift exchange, especially the obligatory return of the gift. Further, I argue that a stratum of big men through their ownership of high-ranking shell money and superior control of ceremonial exchanges take a dominant position in the social life of the island. I sketch a class-like social stratification on Rossel and even suggest that the dominance of the big men may be called a plutocracy. I believe that the exchange system can not be understood by an assumption that actors in exchange interact on terms of equality and I find that in exchange processes reciprocity is often compromised.