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3. The Gift: Care & Reciprocity (El Salvador)

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 Welcome to Week 3 of Transforming Lives through Care.  Last week, we saw how care can be analysed in terms of the kinship. Now we are going to another classic anthropological concept--The Gift--in order to understand care. Now we are going to look at communication as care.  Say "hello" to your mum from me. Why is passing on a "hello" important for some people? Arnold thinks that communication is not just about passing along information. Actually, it can be a gift and a form of care. 🎯 Learning Goals You should be able to: analyse gift-giving practices using the concepts of the Gift  and reciprocity 🚦  Introduction The gift  a crucial concept in anthropology. When we get a present from someone we feel (if we are social people) at least a tiny obligation to give something back. This means that an object, say flowers or a card, is actually a form of currency for social relations. The idea here is that much of the care that humans provide for each other take...