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''Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-While-Giving'' is a book by anthropologist Annette B. Weiner. Weiner was a Professor of Anthropology and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts at New York University, and served as president of the American Anthropological Association. She died in 1997. The book focuses on a range of Oceanic societies from Polynesia to Papua New Guinea to test existing theories of reciprocity (gift-giving) and marriage exchange. The book investigates a category of property, "inalienable possessions," which must not be given away, and if given, must finally return to the giver. She attributes these unique objects with the ability to create lasting social difference, and hence social hierarchy. These possessions are thus at the root of many Polynesian kingdoms, such as Hawaii and Samoa. The book is also important for introducing a consideration of gender in the gift-giving debate by placing women at the heart of the political process. Although "Weiner subtitled her book ''Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-while-Giving'', ... it may be that another paradox present in her work is more salient: that inalienable possessions are simultaneously used to construct and defeat hierarchy. Investigation of this paradox opens a boxful of new theoretical and methodological tools for understanding social inequality in past and present societies." Inalienable possessions ('immovable property') refers to a fundamental classification of property law that Henry Maine stated dates back to Roman times. Immovable property is symbolically identified with the groups that own it, and hence cannot be permanently severed from them. Landed estates in the Middle Ages, for example, had to remain intact and even if sold, could be reclaimed by blood kin. Barbara Mills put it another way by saying, "Inalienable possessions are objects made to be kept (not exchanged), have symbolic and economic power that cannot be transferred, and are often used to authenticate the ritual authority of corporate groups".〔 Marcel Mauss first described inalienable possessions in the classic anthropological text called ''The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies''.
Annette Weiner broadened the application of this category of property outside the European context, referring to the category as "Inalienable possessions." Weiner acknowledges the idea originated in Mauss's classification of two categories of goods in Samoa: Oloa and le'Tonga or immovable and movable goods exchanged through marriage. She applied this concept to explain, amongst other examples, the "Kula ring" in the Trobriand Islands made famous by the founder of anthropology, Bronislaw Malinowski. Certain objects assume a subjective value that places them above ordinary exchange value. ==Cosmological authentication== Weiner states that certain objects become inalienable only when they have acquired "cosmological authentication"; that is,
She gives the example of a Māori Sacred Cloak and says that when a woman wears it "she is more than herself - that she is her ancestors." Cloaks act as conduits for a person's hau or life giving spirit. The hau can bring strength or even knowledge potentially but a person may also have the risk of losing their hau. "An inalienable possession acts as a stabilizing force against change because its presence authenticates cosmological origins, kinship, and political histories." In this way, the Cloak actually stands for the person. "These possessions then are the most potent force in the effort to subvert change, while at the same time they stand as the corpus of change". Paul Sillitoe queries the supposed identification of these objects with persons. He states that these objects are "durable wealth () is collective property that is continually in circulation among persons who have temporary possession of it. In this view, transactable objects belong to society as a whole and are not inalienable possessions associated with certain persons. An analogy in Western culture is sporting trophies, such as championship boxing belts owned by all the clubs comprising the association that controls the competition in which constituent club members compete, and which pass for agreed periods of time into the possession of particular champions, changing hands as new champions emerge." Theuws argues that "Over time, objects acquire new meanings and what was once a humble pot may become a sacred vessel." This transformation in the object is the result of ritualization or a change in cosmology. In fact, "Ritual Knowledge is often a source of political power." However, these possessions may also become destabilizing, as elites reconstruct those sacred histories to identify themselves with the past; for example, Gandhi invoked the traditional hand spinning traditional cloth, khadi, to contest British rule, which Nehru referred to as Gandhi's "livery of freedom". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Inalienable possessions」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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