Exchange and Inequality, Time and Personhood

Abstract

Comments on: JOHN LIEP. A Papuan Plutocracy: Ranked Exchange on Rossel Island. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 2009. Pp. 376. ISBN: 978-87-7934-446-4 This is a book that captures the reader’s attention from the start, not only because of its beautiful lay-out and illustrations and the exotic phenomena that it describes, but also thanks to the author’s academic assiduousness that transpires through its pages. It is the culmination of more than 35 years of dedicated study of a curious and complex system of monetary exchange that exists on Rossel Island, an eastern outlier of the Louisiade Archipelago, far to the east of the mainland of Papua New Guinea. In the following I will suggest some limitations in Liep’s theoretical rendering of his ethnography, which have to do with his overall theoretical position, a relative neglect of the time dimension in exchange, and a lack of interest in the possibilities of newer theory on Melanesian exchange and personhood. I describe these limitations not to diminish the outstanding importance of this book, but to highlight the areas where in my view further theoretical and analytical work could be beneficial and could cast new light on the phenomena described. I give my views with due respect for Liep’s inspiring and imposing accomplishments, well knowing that it is always easier to find areas that are underdeveloped in a book than to prove an author wrong on the arguments and analyses he has chosen to pursue.