Anthropological Critique of the "Marriage by Wife Purchase" Thesis as a Contribution to the Rethinking of Interdisciplinarity

Anthropological research demonstrates that exchanges and transactions related to marriage alliances, regardless of their central organising principle and form, are not governed by the logic of the market but by the logic of gift exchange. Thus, the exchange of women for worthy material goods and val...

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Autor principal:	Zorica Ivanović
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN FR SR
Publicado:	University of Belgrade 2016
Materias:	Anthropology GN1-890
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e9abad5e4bf1471b8e232a25cadac01e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e9abad5e4bf1471b8e232a25cadac01e2021-12-02T05:30:20ZAnthropological Critique of the "Marriage by Wife Purchase" Thesis as a Contribution to the Rethinking of Interdisciplinarity0353-15892334-8801https://doaj.org/article/e9abad5e4bf1471b8e232a25cadac01e2016-03-01T00:00:00Zhttp://eap-iea.org/index.php/eap/article/view/425https://doaj.org/toc/0353-1589https://doaj.org/toc/2334-8801Anthropological research demonstrates that exchanges and transactions related to marriage alliances, regardless of their central organising principle and form, are not governed by the logic of the market but by the logic of gift exchange. Thus, the exchange of women for worthy material goods and valuables (bridewealth), which is (or has been) a dominant form of marriage transactions in Africa and some parts of Asia and Oceania, cannot be understood as commodity exchange and "wife purchase". The "marriage by wife purchase" thesis, developed within a Victorian evolutionist paradigm, has been rejected in anthropology a long time ago. At the same time, some more recent research showed that the exchange of persons for goods as a principle of marriage exchanges and transactions does not entail only the practice of exchanging women for material goods. In some societies, marriage transactions are based on the principle of exchanging men for goods (groomwealth). This research called into question, once again, not only the "wife purchase" theory but also Levi-Strauss' fundamental assumption about the "exchange of women between groups of men". In response to the fact that the "marriage by wife purchase" thesis is still regarded as an adequate explanation not only in the popular discourse but also in the Serbian scientific literature, this article seeks to offer an anthropological critique of the thesis and to draw attention to some key interdisciplinary disagreements that emerge in the interpretation of this particular form of marriage transactions. The article also discusses theoretical and epistemological assumptions which underpin the "marriage by purchase" thesis, as well as the process of critical examination that led anthropology to discard the thesis. From a contemporary anthropological perspective, the article suggests a possibility to explore a cultural and political economy of the gift, since the logic of gift is different from but not diametrically opposed to the logic of commodity exchange.Zorica IvanovićUniversity of BelgradearticleAnthropologyGN1-890ENFRSREtnoantropološki Problemi, Vol 2, Iss 2, Pp 157-220 (2016)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FR SR
topic	Anthropology GN1-890
spellingShingle	Anthropology GN1-890 Zorica Ivanović Anthropological Critique of the "Marriage by Wife Purchase" Thesis as a Contribution to the Rethinking of Interdisciplinarity
description	Anthropological research demonstrates that exchanges and transactions related to marriage alliances, regardless of their central organising principle and form, are not governed by the logic of the market but by the logic of gift exchange. Thus, the exchange of women for worthy material goods and valuables (bridewealth), which is (or has been) a dominant form of marriage transactions in Africa and some parts of Asia and Oceania, cannot be understood as commodity exchange and "wife purchase". The "marriage by wife purchase" thesis, developed within a Victorian evolutionist paradigm, has been rejected in anthropology a long time ago. At the same time, some more recent research showed that the exchange of persons for goods as a principle of marriage exchanges and transactions does not entail only the practice of exchanging women for material goods. In some societies, marriage transactions are based on the principle of exchanging men for goods (groomwealth). This research called into question, once again, not only the "wife purchase" theory but also Levi-Strauss' fundamental assumption about the "exchange of women between groups of men". In response to the fact that the "marriage by wife purchase" thesis is still regarded as an adequate explanation not only in the popular discourse but also in the Serbian scientific literature, this article seeks to offer an anthropological critique of the thesis and to draw attention to some key interdisciplinary disagreements that emerge in the interpretation of this particular form of marriage transactions. The article also discusses theoretical and epistemological assumptions which underpin the "marriage by purchase" thesis, as well as the process of critical examination that led anthropology to discard the thesis. From a contemporary anthropological perspective, the article suggests a possibility to explore a cultural and political economy of the gift, since the logic of gift is different from but not diametrically opposed to the logic of commodity exchange.
format	article
author	Zorica Ivanović
author_facet	Zorica Ivanović
author_sort	Zorica Ivanović
title	Anthropological Critique of the "Marriage by Wife Purchase" Thesis as a Contribution to the Rethinking of Interdisciplinarity
title_short	Anthropological Critique of the "Marriage by Wife Purchase" Thesis as a Contribution to the Rethinking of Interdisciplinarity
title_full	Anthropological Critique of the "Marriage by Wife Purchase" Thesis as a Contribution to the Rethinking of Interdisciplinarity
title_fullStr	Anthropological Critique of the "Marriage by Wife Purchase" Thesis as a Contribution to the Rethinking of Interdisciplinarity
title_full_unstemmed	Anthropological Critique of the "Marriage by Wife Purchase" Thesis as a Contribution to the Rethinking of Interdisciplinarity
title_sort	anthropological critique of the "marriage by wife purchase" thesis as a contribution to the rethinking of interdisciplinarity
publisher	University of Belgrade
publishDate	2016
url	https://doaj.org/article/e9abad5e4bf1471b8e232a25cadac01e
work_keys_str_mv	AT zoricaivanovic anthropologicalcritiqueofthemarriagebywifepurchasethesisasacontributiontotherethinkingofinterdisciplinarity
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Anthropological Critique of the "Marriage by Wife Purchase" Thesis as a Contribution to the Rethinking of Interdisciplinarity

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