Of relations and the dead
Subtitle: four societies viewed from the angle of their exchanges
By: Cécile Barraud ... [et al.] ; translated by Stephen J. Suffern.
Contributors: Barraud, Cécile.
Series: Explorations in anthropology
Publisher: Berg
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Oxford; Providence, USA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 131
Subjects: Ceremonial exchange.; Rites and ceremonies.; Initiation rites.; Marriage customs and rites.; Funeral rites and ceremonies.
Description: Exchanges are fundamental to human societies. The authors show that the study of exchanges not only serves as a key to understanding particular societies as totalities but also helps to frame a comparative mode of analysis expressed in terms of a hierarchy of values. Starting with a comparative analysis of the different vocabularies used when dealing with exchange, the authors go on to provide a detailed account of how each society's exchanges form a genuine value-orientated system.

Their conclusions shed light on important issues in anthropology such as the difference between subject and object; the construction of the person in the matrix of social relations; and the contrast between "socio-cosmic" systems and other societies which recognise a universal term of reference beyond their community.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-126) and index.
Originally published as Des relations et des morts, in: Différences, valeurs, hiérarchie. Paris : Editions de l'Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales, c1984.