Postface

Abstract

The postface casts a transversal view on the various papers published in this issue. It first underscores how their common scientific project raises questions which bring new developments in anthropological descriptions and analyzes. It highlights furthermore how Alain Testart’s theoretical contribution on the concepts of gift and outside market exchanges can be put in practice by enlightening and bringing new analyzes on local social facts and observations. As observed in several articles, it shows that the same fact may lead to different if not opposite interpretations by local actors, thus possibly giving rise to misunderstandings between them. This possibility makes it all the more difficult to analyze the very nature of economical transfers, and suggests a more subtle outlook on what actually takes place. A comparison is made at last between these south-east asian case studies and descriptions and analyzes pertaining to African pastoral societies.

Keywords

• exchanges
• gift
• Testart (Alain)
• economical transfers outside market
• African pastoral societies