Exchange and Alienation in the "Jajmani" System

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2995273
AutoresDaniel Miller (0000-0001-6554-9174, autor correspondente)
Ano1986
Volume42
Fascículo4
Páginas535-556
Data de publicação1986-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Anthropological Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0091-7710 • E-ISSN: 2153-3806
EditoraUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/jar.42.4.3630107
OpenAlexW2333893572
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas13

Criticisms are given both of early attempts to define the jajmani system in South Asia on the basis of selected attributes and of recent attempts to dismiss the concept altogether. An alternative approach is constructed using the example of the distribution of pottery in a Malwa village. This approach examines the tendency towards fixity in the exchange of services and its relation to the market. The assumption that jajmani is a traditional system undermined by monetization is questioned. Several other approaches are reexamined and shown to emphasize the secondary articulation of formal exchange with other aspects of village social organization. A more general analysis follows recent work on the Kula in suggesting that systems of embedded exchange may be understood as a praxis which ameliorates the alienation intrinsic to circulation, which in the case of jajmani may be fostered both by the division of labor and by monetization

Aesthetics · Alienation · Articulation (sociology · Economic system · Economics · Economy · Epistemology · Identity (music · Monetization · Political science · Praxis · Relation (database · Social science · Sociology · African history and culture analysis · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Law · Philosophy · South Asian Studies and Conflicts