From the Continuum of Reciprocities to the Multiplicity of Perspectives. Problematising Sahlins’ Triad into Animist Ontologies

Pol Llopart i Olivella ()
Additional contact information
Pol Llopart i Olivella: Universitat de Barcelona

Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science, 2021, vol. 55, issue 1, 107-126

Abstract: Sahlins proposed a tripartite classification of reciprocities mostly sustained with ethnographic data of hunter-gatherer societies but non-human persons, vital agents in their lifeworlds, were omitted. Extensive anthropological literature tested the viability of Sahlins’ model, sometimes facing successful integration but often confronted as inherently problematic. The present proposal aims to revisit those critiques and literature that moved away to fully embrace non-human persons into the analysis. These ethnographic theories postulate the capacity of a person to take on the appearance and viewpoint of another being, apprehending reality from distinct points of view which is characteristic of animist ontologies. Rejecting, on the first instance, the idea of the continuum of reciprocities ordered in concentric circles allows us to take into consideration the concept of perspectivism. In that light, actors involved take on a fluid and ever-emerging place in the world to direct their activities in interchangeable and relational statuses of predator and prey. Perspectivism acknowledges shifts in the ever-changing animist world and the multiplicity of interpretations it produces, for example, over the thin division between sharing and theft (irreconcilable opposites in Sahlins’ argument). The aim is to think about affinities and divergences between the diverse perspectives of human-animal sociality and Sahlins scale of reciprocities.

Keywords: Reciprocity; Perspectivism; Animism; Hunting; Sharing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 Z12 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: Track citations by RSS feed

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.annalsfondazioneluigieinaudi.it/images/LV/2021-1-007-llopart.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fle:journl:v:55:y:2021:i:1:p:107-126

DOI: 10.26331/1136

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science is currently edited by Francesco Cassata, Mario Aldo Cedrini, Roberto Marchionatti, Federica Morelli and Angela Ambrosino

More articles in Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science from Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Torino (Italy) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mario Aldo Cedrini ().