The Nature of Entrustment : Intimacy, Exchange, and the Sacred in Africa

This groundbreaking book addresses issues of the keenest interest to anthropologists, specialists on Africa, and those concerned with international aid and development. Drawing on extensive research among the Luo people in western Kenya and abroad over many years, Parker Shipton provides an insightful general ethnography. In particular, he focuses closely on nonmonetary forms of exchange and entrustment, moving beyond anthropology’s traditional understanding of gifts, loans, and reciprocity. He proposes a new view of the social and symbolic dimensions of economy over the full life course, including transfers between generations. He shows why the enduring cultural values and aspirations of East African people—and others around the world—complicate issues of credit, debt, and compensation. The book examines how the Luo assess obligations to intimates and strangers, including the dead and the not-yet-born. Borrowing, lending, and serial passing along have ritual, religious, and emotional dimensions no less than economic ones, Shipton shows, and insight into these connections demands a broad rethinking of all international aid plans and programs.

This groundbreaking book addresses issues of the keenest interest to anthropologists, specialists on Africa, and those concerned with international aid and development. Drawing on extensive research among the Luo people in western Kenya and abroad over many years, Parker Shipton provides an insightful general ethnography. In particular, he focuses closely on nonmonetary forms of exchange and entrustment, moving beyond anthropology’s traditional understanding of gifts, loans, and reciprocity. He proposes a new view of the social and symbolic dimensions of economy over the full life course, including transfers between generations. He shows why the enduring cultural values and aspirations of East African people_x0097_and others around the world_x0097_complicate issues of credit, debt, and compensation.

The book examines how the Luo assess obligations to intimates and strangers, including the dead and the not-yet-born. Borrowing, lending, and serial passing along have ritual, religious, and emotional dimensions no less than economic ones, Shipton shows, and insight into these connections demands a broad rethinking of all international aid plans and programs.

Contents 7 Preface 9 Acknowledgments 15 Chapter 1. Introduction 19 Chapter 2. Fiduciary Culture: A Thread in Anthropological Theory 35 Chapter 3. Luo and Their Livelihood: The Great Lake Basin and Beyond 58 Chapter 4. Entrustment Incarnate: Humans and Animals over Years and Generations 99 Chapter 5. Teaming Up: Borrowing, Lending, and Getting By 117 Chapter 6. Marriage on the Installment Plan: The Present and the Promised 138 Chapter 7. Debts in Life and Death: Shared Responsibility and the Funerary Flow 176 Chapter 8. In the Passing: Inheritance of Things and Persons 191 Chapter 9. Blood, Fire, and Word: Luo, Christian, and Luo-Christian Sacrifice 205 Chapter 10. Conclusion: Entrustment and Obligation 223 Notes 241 Glossary 267 Bibliography 271 Index 289 "This book addresses issues of the keenest interest to anthropologists, specialists on Africa, and those concerned with international aid and development. Drawing on extensive research among the Luo people in western Kenya and abroad over many years, Parker Shipton provides a general ethnography with a new theme and theoretical approach." "This book examines how the Luo assess obligations to intimates and strangers, including the dead and the not-yet-born. Borrowing, lending, and serial passing along have ritual, religious, and emotional dimensions no less than economic ones, Shipton shows, and insight into these connections demands a broad rethinking of all international aid plans and programs."--Jacket