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3 results

  • 3 - The Meaning of the Gift

  • from Part II - Legal
  • Lawrence Rosen, Princeton University, New Jersey
  • Book:
    Encounters with Islam
    Published online:
    09 September 2023
    Print publication:
    14 September 2023, pp 52-60

  • Summary

    A gift, my grandmother used to say, is just a loan. And certainly in many parts of the world gifts, far from being merely free-will offerings, are what bind people together in relationships of felt indebtedness. As one traces the meaning and forms of gift-giving in the Middle East and North Africa, one appreciates that the lines along which gifts flow and the meanings that are attached to them are, like the traces of one’s passing, an indicator of the bonds of obligations formed. In a sense, the running imbalance of gifts thus underscores the nature of many social ties and their negotiation in this part of the world and with them a keener appreciation of how they inform the encounters that sustain the social order.