The Gift of the Godfather

Based on a large array of sources, from ethnographic fieldwork to Internet discussion forums and archive surveys, this article traces complex gift-giving practices between godparents and godchildren, as they developed and thrived in the region of Transylvania, Romania, from the 1950s onward. I examine, in particular, the monetization of gifts in connection to recent turning points in economic history. Through various case studies, I show how godparenthood relates to notions of calculation, exchange, obligation, debt, care, and charity. The findings suggest a tension at the heart of godparenthood narrative and practice, a tension with many interrelated facets, between exchange and charity, between calculation and solidarity, self-interest, and care. This tension emerges in everyday talk and lived experiences of Romanians and also in broader anthropological discussions about the possibility of altruistic gift and the pitfalls of reciprocity

Art · Debt · Economics · Ethnography · Monetization · Narrative · Negotiation · Obligation · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Solidarity · Anthropology · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Law · Post-Communist Economic and Political Transition