The Development Gift: The Problem of Reciprocity in the NGO World

R. L. Stirrat and Heiko Henkel

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1997, vol. 554, issue 1, 66-80

Abstract: Drawing on Mauss's classical essay on “The Gift,†the authors examine the relationship between Western development nongovernmental organizations and their Southern counterparts. It is argued that what starts out as a seemingly free gift is transformed into a heavily conditional gift when it reaches the ultimate recipient. Despite the apparent one-way flow of goods, there are in practice symbolic forms of reciprocity that tie together the Northern donors and Southern receivers. While the complexities of this relationship do not make partnerships between North and South impossible, they certainly make them problematic: there is no such thing as a free gift.

Date: 1997
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:554:y:1997:i:1:p:66-80

DOI: 10.1177/0002716297554001005

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