Inalienable possessions

Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-While-Giving is a book by anthropologist Annette Weiner. Weiner was a Professor of Anthropology and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts at New York University, and served as president of the American Anthropological Association. She died in 1997.

The book focuses on a range of Oceanic societies from Polynesia to Papua New Guinea to test existing theories of reciprocity (gift-giving) and marriage exchange. The book investigates a category of property, "inalienable possessions", which must not be given away, and if given, must finally return to the giver. She attributes these unique objects with the ability to create lasting social difference, and hence social hierarchy. These possessions are thus at the root of many Polynesian kingdoms, such as Hawaii and Samoa. The book is also important for introducing a consideration of gender in the gift-giving debate by placing women at the heart of the political process.

Although "Weiner subtitled her book Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-while-Giving, ... it may be that another paradox present in her work is more salient: that inalienable possessions are simultaneously used to construct and defeat hierarchy. Investigation of this paradox opens a boxful of new theoretical and methodological tools for understanding social inequality in past and present societies."

Inalienable possessions ("immovable property") refers to a fundamental classification of property law that Henry Maine stated dates back to Roman times. Immovable property is symbolically identified with the groups that own it, and hence cannot be permanently severed from them. Landed estates in the Middle Ages, for example, had to remain intact and even if sold, could be reclaimed by blood kin. Barbara Mills put it another way by saying, "Inalienable possessions are objects made to be kept (not exchanged), have symbolic and economic power that cannot be transferred, and are often used to authenticate the ritual authority of corporate groups".

Marcel Mauss first described inalienable possessions in the classic anthropological text called The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies.

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