Social distinction can be obtained by being an excellent worker. Trobrianders who have social ambitions must operate within the narrow confines allowed by custom. Achieving social prestige and status in the tribe Examples include sagali (death-related services) for mourners and grave diggers, and love gifts given immediately after having sex. The mapula regulate the gifts that are owed for magical or other specialised services. These are called the mapula (repayment), and operated in the same way as set prices in the West. Instead they have defined gift exchanges for the settling of social obligations.
The tribes do not have a monetary system. These systems of exchange act as a social welfare system or credit arrangement, while cementing bonds between families and clans The understanding is that if the givers require assistance due to some misfortune, the recipients are under obligation to share their supplies with them (Lee, 2011). The pokala and urigupu offerings enable the recipients to accumulate wealth in the form of food which is ostentatiously displayed in storehouses. They also cement bonds between families and clans (Thomas and Warrall, 2002, as cited in Lee, 2011). These systems of exchange act as a social welfare system or credit arrangement. A means of providing social welfare or credit
The husband occasionally returns the favour by giving them youlo (counter gifts of lower value). The brothers of a married woman give urigubu (harvest gifts) to her husband. The chief then reciprocates by giving them symbolic gifts in return. Vassal villagers, on the other hand, give pokala (harvest gifts) as an act of subordination to their chief. People of higher rank or wealth are expected to share their possessions, thus showing their generosity but also their superiority.
#KULA WORLD LEVELS CODE#
This social hierarchy, as well as a strict code of rules of kinship, is reflected in the systems of exchange. In order to understand the psychology behind the different types of exchange that permeate Trobriander society, one needs to consider the fact that the tribesmen are born with a specific rank and social status which is inherited, cannot be changed and is not related to material possessions. What other systems of exchange did Malinowski observe in the Trobriand Islands? The Trobriand people are one of the tribes that participate actively in a “human social institution” called the kula, a complex system of exchange based on magical beliefs, traditions, duties and obligations. The Trobriand islanders participate actively in a “human social institution” (Malinowski, 1922) called the kula, a complex system of exchange based on magical beliefs, traditions, duties and obligations. The Trobriands are an archipelago of islands on the south-eastern side of Papua New Guinea. His stated aim was to understand the “imponderabilia of everyday life” in the tribe. He learnt their language and interacted with the islanders daily. The anthropologist lived on Mailu Island for several years. In the early twentieth century the Trobriand people were the subject of an in-depth ethnographic study by Bronislaw Malinowski.
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