ISBN:
9781032298542
,
9781032298627
Language:
English
Pages:
ix, 257 Seiten
,
Illustrationen
Series Statement:
Routledge studies in cultural history
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als Dangers of gifts from antiquity to the digital age
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als The dangers of gifts from antiquity to the digital age
DDC:
394
Keywords:
Gifts History
;
Gifts Social aspects
;
Social interaction History
;
Cultural studies
;
General & world history
;
Geschichte allgemein und Weltgeschichte
;
HISTORY / Social History
;
HISTORY / World
;
Kulturwissenschaft: Sitten und Gebräuche
;
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Customs & Traditions
;
Social & cultural history
;
Sociology: customs & traditions
;
Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte
;
Aufsatzsammlung
;
Geschenk
;
Schenkung
;
Risiko
;
Kultur
;
Geschichte
Abstract:
Introduction : unpacking the dangerous gift / Tracey A. Sowerby and Alexandra Urakova -- Demonic gifts and counter-gifts in ancient Zoroastrianism / Shervin Farridnejad -- Blessings, bribes and bishops : Cyril of Alexandria, the Council of Ephesus (431) and the making of orthodoxy / Volker Menze -- 'The most precious of all gifts' : sentimentality, consumption, and the gift of death in Warner, Phelps, and Twain / Alexandra Urakova -- The dangerous gift as diplomatic tool : relics and cross-confessional gift-giving at the turn of the seventeenth century / Tracey A. Sowerby -- A Pandora's box of national hostility? : the Széchényis and aristocratic donations in nineteenth century East-Central Europe / Sándor Hites -- The dangerous gift of universal income : the problem of rentier dependency in Venezuela / Aaron Kappeler -- Taking aim at 'exchange gifts' and the 'Christmas tax' : dangerous gifts in the Progressive Era and the Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving / Ellen Litwicki -- The dual dangers of the gift / Russell Belk -- The birthday cake : commodity, thing, object, and token / Robert Appelbaum -- Afterword : gifts, dangers and their performative context / Ilana F. Silber.
Abstract:
"This is the first volume that examines dangerous gift-giving across centuries and disciplines. Bringing to the fore the subject that features as an aside in gift studies, it offers new insights into the ambivalent and troubled history of gift-giving. Dangerous, violent, and self-destructive gift-giving remains an alluring challenge for scholars almost a hundred years after Marcel Mauss's landmark work on the gift. Globally, the notion of toxic and fateful gifts has haunted mythologies, folklores, and literatures for millennia. This book problematizes what stands behind the notion of the "dangerous gift" and demonstrates how this operational term may help us to better understand the role and place of gift-giving from antiquity to the present through a series of case studies ranging from ancient Zoroastrianism to modern digital dating. The book develops a complex historical, cross-cultural, and multi-disciplinary approach to gift-giving that invites comparisons between various facets of this phenomenon through time and across societies. The book will interest a wide range of scholars working in anthropology, history, literary criticism, religious studies, and contemporary digital culture. It will primarily appeal to university educators and researchers of political culture, pre-modern religion, social relations, and the relationship between commerce and gifts"--
Description / Table of Contents:
Introduction: Unpacking the Dangerous Gift Part 1: Gifts Divine, Demonic, and Devout 1. Demonic Gifts and Counter-gifts in Ancient Zoroastrianism 2. Blessings, Bribes and Bishops: Cyril of Alexandria, the Council of Ephesus (431) and the Making of Orthodoxy 3. The most precious of all gifts: Sentimentality, Consumption, and The Gift of Death in Warner, Phelps, and Twain Part 2:The Precarious Politics of the Gift 4. The Dangerous Gift as Diplomatic Tool: Relics and Cross-confessional Gift-giving at the Turn of the Seventeenth Century 5. A Pandoras Box of National Hostility?: The Széchényis and Aristocratic Donations in Nineteenth Century East-Central Europe 6. The Dangerous Gift of Universal Income: The Problem of Rentier Dependency in Venezuela Part 3: The Dark Side of the Gift Economy 7. Taking Aim at Exchange Gifts and the Christmas Tax: Dangerous Gifts in the Progressive Era and the Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving 8. The Dual Dangers of the Gift 9. The Birthday Cake: Commodity, Thing, Object, and Token. Afterword: Gifts, Dangers and Their Performative Context
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index
DOI:
10.4324/9781003302407
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