reproduction: a replacement for reciprocity

Abstract

An overemphasis on equivalences in exchange procedures forces us to continue to depend upon theories and models based on “norms of reciprocity.” This “reciprocity approach” disregards the significance of time and analyzes reciprocal equivalences for what, in fact, may be a process of replacement. Significant wealth objects, originally given in exchange, may be reclaimed years or generations later and in this way the replacement process gives an exchange system a dimension of reproductive potential. From this “reproductive perspective,” death rather than marriage operates as a regulatory force, allowing for the replacement of wealth, and the long‐term regeneration of social relations. [reproduction, exchange, death, Melanesia, Trobriand Islanders]