Soliciting Gifts and Negotiating Agency: The Spirit of Asking in Botswana Author(s): Deborah Durham Source: The Journal

of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Mar., 1995), pp. 111-128 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3034231 . Accessed: 23/06/2011 18:35
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SOLICITING GIFTS AND NEGOTIATING AGENCY THE SPIRIT OF ASKING IN BOTSWANA

DEBORAH DURHAM

Sweet Briar College

This articleexplorestheplayful askingforthingsthatoccurs dailyin Botswana,and connects it with the frequent solicitations one receivesthereto aid public and privateprojects.In these transactions are people mutually construct themselves independent as actors:such constructions not a priori the interchanges. to of Requests and solicitations, organizedaround the possibility of subject denial, configurethe actors as essentially equal agentivepositions.This particular in position can be contrasted with those in otherkinds of transactions Botswana,which may withthatof or This approachis contrasted, the article, in configure hierarchy interdependence. on much conventional literature exchange, which assumes the independenceand equal agency of actorspriorto theirinteraction.

Introduction: 'Give me tenthebe please!' This formula, utteredas an insistent demand by childrenin urban Botswana, to And indeed,theseforceinevitably annoysWesterners whom it is addressed. to fulrequestsare inappropriate local people as well, althoughnot forthe same reasons. Many Westerners Botswana see the beggingby local childrenas in statusof Botswanain an internacontinuouswith,and parallelto, the recipient tionaleconomyof development aid. The loans,gifts and projectsthatoriginate Botswana's in the United Statesand Europe are an essentialpartof defining Third-World status, just as the necessityfor beggingdefinesthe childrenas or But this parallelbetweenaskingforthingsand poverty deimpoverished. is and suggestion, not a althoughit is available for contemplation pendency, is one forthe people of Botswana:anotherinterpretation available.In necessary and Botswana,the act of askingformoneyor goods need not be embarrassing, in ought not be offensive, many social situations.In fact,it can positively of highlightthe social dimensions of independenceand self-determination both the askerand the giver. In this article,I explore the ways in which agencyis createdfor actors in I in social situations. am most interested the mannerin which a kind of egalitarianand autonomouspositionis established people in theverycontext for of, and not priorto, exchangeinteractions. But, as I will discuss,Botswana is not In 'an egalitarian to society'.Nor is it 'hierarchical'. contrast approacheswhich seek to characterize societyby one or the otherterm(cf Kent 1993), I found a the situationin Botswana to be more complex. Hierarchyand egalitarianism,
Inst. J. Roy. anthrop. (N.S.) 1, 111-128

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and autonomywere presentas possibilitiesin Botswana as interdependence And in demands for gifts, in requests for or they probablyare everywhere. donations,people in Botswana created,or denied, an agentiveposition for and others.(A similarcase is Myers 1989 and 1986 on 'the dialectic themselves of autonomy and relatedness'among AustralianPintupi; cf also Peterson 1993.) unsolicited gifts frompeople who AlthoughI learnedto acceptwithgratitude were palpablypoorer than I (cf Maurice Bloch's (1989) Westernunease with giftsfrom Malagasy,I was never comfortable asking for thingsfrom other nor turning down requestsmade to me. In thelatter people, event,I felt uneasy with the debt I perceivedto be suggestedby the otherperson,the asker,and of withthe introduction a possibleasymmetry our relationship into thatI had not sought. In the firstinstance,I oftensat hungryin Herero compounds, hopingthatsomeone would 'have the courtesy'to offer something eat, me to althoughI knew that it was not only acceptablebut expected that I would demandtea and bread,porridge, even meat.At othertimes, or while walkingin to the hot summer sun and having (again) forgotten bring cash with me, I watchedmy companionsbuy Coca-Cola or otherdrinks, unwillingto impose I upon theirgenerosity. felthorribleon the occasions when one of my village friendshad to make a paymentfor me, for food or funeraldonations,and I to the insisted, quite contrary local usage,on defining act as a loan and specifyWhereasone of my Herero friends would have said, indji ing a timeof return. sutira! pao oyimariva! ('give me money') or indji ('pay forme'), I would ask,mba I'll mee muhuka have to borrowmoney, return sokuyazema ('I oyimariva, tjiyarura it tomorrow'). On the otherhand, people were constantly askingforthingsfromme, and fromeach other.(My statusas wealthyor Americandid not singleme out for these requests:othervillagers, includingthosewho were relatively poor - but never indigent were also constantly asked forthings.)'Give me your skirt!' 'Make us tea!' 'Give me a pula!'l 'Buy me a Coke!' 'Give me your earrings!' Some of these requestsdemanded fulfilment providing food at one's home, forexample,is expected.But mostare avoidablethrough lively a conversational banterin which the item is 'enclaved' (cf Appadurai 1986: 22sqq.): that is, definedas actuallybelongingto anotherperson, describedas a special (i.e., inalienable) giftfrom a spouse or lover,or otherwisereservedfrombeing given.Or thepersonsolicitedmightclaim thatthe object requested(moneyor food) simplyis not availableat themoment(katji 'it is not there').She or he po, should never,however, claim not to possess moneyor goods (hi notjimariva, 'I do not have money'). The formof theseclaims,in which the object is simply made unavailable at the moment and never completelyunavailable,is very to the that and important understanding kindof transactions are occurring, the thatare underconstruction, will become clearbelow. Finally, social relations as the requestmighteven be fulfilled, drinkpurchased, a some smallobject given not the skirt),money handed over,althoughthis happens relatively (perhaps In the infrequently. the everyday encounter, whole conversational exchangeis full falseexcuses,intransigent extremely playful, of mock indignation, patently claimsof need. insistence, exaggerated

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In a fairly prototypical example of one of these interchanges, group of a young women would encounteran acquaintancewhile walking downtown. Aftergreetings, which introduceall meetingsin Botswana,the acquaintance mightdemand of one of the women, 'buy me some bread in town, I am And thenbe told,'ao! This moneyhere,it is my aunt's moneyand I starving'. must bringher some meat'. 'Then after thatyou will buy me bread'. 'Look we at look at thismoney Two pula! It is not enough,it is too little, are hungry home'. Whereis yourmoney? You mustreturn home and getsome. Let us go now'. We are walkingto town now,I want to make a phone-call,it is too far'. I to Ao! You are refusing! will come to your house tonight receivemy bread'. All right'.Laughter, colour the anger,indignation and frowning indifference variousstatements. The demandermightnevercome, or if she should choose to make an eveningvisit,the requestedbreadwould not resurface factor in in has conversation. Two things important are here.The interchange been playful, the possibility givingand receiving of bread open but not quite expected.And thisis relatedto the factthatfewof theseplayful demandsare in factfulfilled. In my experience, food or tea at home, perhapsa liftin a vehicle,thesethings, numberof cases, althoughstilldeniable,were generally given.But in the larger given nothingapartfromthe requests, excuses,demands,hedges,was actually or received. These small interchanges punctuateddaily life in the Botswana village of Mahalapye. Everydayvisits to neighboursand friends,roadway encounters and brand-newacquaintances were occasions fordemanding, with old friends or asking, money, to for food or goods.Justas remarkable me as the persistent of solicitation was thatthereseemed to be no expectation eventualreturn(if at anything was actuallygiven) and, indeed,sometimesno continuation all of oftenoccurredbetween social relationship. That is to say,these interchanges closer relationonly casual acquaintancesof the moment,and did not initiate ship over the long term. Unlike buying rounds of drinksin a pub, where all buyingand receiving evensout in theend, no one in Mahalapyewas counting, and some were giving more than others, without the consumers is one. I have noticed,in overdebt. The contrast an instructive engendering in heard conversations,that in America requests are often made strictly reciprocating terms:'I helped you out last week, now it is your turnto help the me'. In Botswana,thiswas rarely case. More often,each requestand each had actual giftstood on its own. The more playful demands,in particular, no with histories, but insteadeach constituted new intercourse. a My familiarity debt and giftdid not prepareme the anthropological on literature reciprocity, for these apparently the requesteddonations that prounencumberedgifts, But beyondthe duced no visibleor audible debt,eitherof goods or of agency. problems of giftand debt, it became clear that here the act of asking was at thangivingand receiving, perhapsthe more important more important act, with requests sigleast in casual everyday intercourse. My own discomfort cultural nalled to me thataskingfor thingsmay be subject to verydifferent constructions fromthose of Euro-American culture,and I was compelled to thinkabout my previousperceptions debt, asymmetrical of statuses,and the to of easilyin the playful impropriety askingforthings. My inability participate

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these requestsimpliedsomethingmore: thatthe playfulbantersurrounding ness served to frame very sensitive and subtle negotiation of social that social relationships I was onlybeginning learnat the time. to relationships, of were integral the These smalland common transactions wordsand things to creationof personhoodand agency, both the askerand the asked. for It is the aim of thisarticle, then,to explorethe power of askingin Botswana. the demandsthatare playAlthoughI have takenas the prototype half-serious to fullyexchangedamong acquaintances,asking for thingsis not restricted It to person-to-person relationships. may also include as a party the exchange or the state,a locality/community a family group, and these other examples of demands. share much, thoughnot all, of the processand effect the playful Whetheryoungwomen on the street, villagecouncil or a household,the the take on an appearance of self-determination partiesto the interchange and of independence,affirmed throughrecognition the power to demand and to sectionsI examinefirst how askingfitsinto a Western deny.In the following of morality moral economy),and then give some backgrounddescription (or I in the community which I encounteredso much solicitation. then discuss some requeststhatilluminatethe process of asking,and returnin the end to examinehow deniableand unreciprocated demandscontrast with otherforms of requestmade in Botswana,and to examinethe kindsof agentivepositions createdin the different requests.

onasking the Reflections and Western gift

values highly act of giving, Although Western' religiousand moralhistory the as an instanceof caritas charity, as an unfettered or and of outpouring friendly sentiment (Carrier1991; Parry1986), it is also truethatWesternculturenow considersthe complementary of askingand receiving rather acts as embarrassof ing. The spirit capitalism, fromitsProtestant roots,has condemnedbegging for both the 'sin of slothfulness [and] the violationof the duty of brotherly love' (Weber1958: 163): begging was an open acknowledgment the lackof a of of 'calling,'the innermanifestation moralworthand the religiousspirit. ask To forthingsfromothersis to admittheirlack in oneself,eitheras partof one's spiritual endowmentor its material signs,or both. Hence, when nineteenthin centurytravellers southernAfricarepeatedly condemned the beggingand insistent demandsthattheyencountered amongAfricans, theywere reiterating a Victorian imageof Africans morally as deficient. In keepingwith thisethic,anthropological analysesof gifts and of exchange have generally focused fairly closely upon the moral demands to reciprocate giftsreceived,and upon the power or improvedstatusof the giver.Marcel Mauss, whose essayon thegift established agendaforanthropological the study of non-commoditized exchange, discussing in alms-giving thepoor,analyses to only the interchange between the giverand the gods: the moral implications for the recipients completely are passed over (1967: 15sq.). And althoughhe mentionsbriefly obligation receive'gifts his essay(1967: 11), it is the 'the to in to 'obligation return' themthatis emphasizedin his own workand in much of the literature exchangeinspired it.A focusupon thisobligation return, on by to characterized (literally) theembeddingof thepersonof thegiverin thegift,2 by

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privileges agencyof the giver.The recipient, contrast, caughtby the the by is demandsof thegift and itsgiver:indeed,in theclassicalMaussian formulation, his or her personhoodis encumberedby the personhoodof the giver, embodied in the hauof the gift.3 so faras some aspect of persons is itselfbeing In transacted, and this transaction reforms agency, power of independent the or self-determination the transactors, is a moraleconomyindeed. of it The consequence of this classical Maussian approach to gifts,then, is to and the powerof thegift. is thegiverwho It emphasizethe agencyof thegiver, seems to have ultimatecontrolover the transaction: demand fora return his of overwhelms ability the recipient determine response.This deprivathe to a tion of independencefor the recipient, and the materialdebt engenderedin receipt,may produce a hierarchical relationship between the two parties:the recipient, chainedto the giverby the gift, thereby is subordinated the giver, to who attainsa superiorstatus(cf Sahlins 1972: 208). The recipient may,however,redeem his individuality independenceby makinga returnfor the and gift,and if it is of equal value then the balance sheet of social status and material goods is even. The movementof goods not only createssubordinate and superordinate relations, it also makes possible theireventualtransforbut mation and a returnto the prior and ultimateequalityof each actor in this reciprocating drama.The Maussian theory the gift of supportsand repeatsthe tenets of a Westernliberal individualism, acknowledging(or assuming) the equal agencyof individualactorspriorto social intercourse.4 Bourdieu(1977: esp. 5-9) did much explicitly return to agency and self-control to the gift aside frommore abstract models of exchange recipient, stepping by in to discernthe strategies which social relations constituted time. are through As he describesboth fortheAlgerianpeasantand 'in everysociety',the recipia ent in any transaction retains greatdeal of power over the situation:he may or the or of determine time of return, the quantity/quality return, may negate But Bourdieu retains the giftin failing return. to the notionthatthe actorsin actors these transactions necessarily are self-empowered agents,individualistic whose actions are rational, even calculated:it is not coincidentalthat in the used for the of English translation Bourdieu the word 'agent' is frequently 'Whileacknowledgare as actors,and thattheiractivities represented 'strategy'. ing the importanceof the recipient, then, Bourdieu retainsthe underlying to of and assumptions strategizing individualistic agentsbeingnecessary parties Thomas has pointed out thatthereis nothingin the any gift.More recently, logic of exchangeitselfthatdemands an initialequalitybetween transactors: instead 'the natureof specificprestations thus dependent,not just on the is formof prestation.. .and culturalconstructions objects..., but also on the of which differentiates of politicaland culturalconstruction agency, people's capacities'(1991: 22; cf also Thomas 1985). Thomas (1985) has arguedthatthe to notion of the individualas an actor, with capacitiesand rights action,is not inherent anysituation. to Instead,thepersonmustbe 'qualified'(i.e., giventhe qualities)to act.And thesequalitiesare not simplyaccomplishedat some point in people's lives: 'subjects are continuouslyand recursively (re)constituted with others' (Thomas 1985: 225). These observathroughtheirinteractions Mauss's own study on the notion of the tions are hardlynew - ironically,

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person (Mauss 1985, originally publishedin 1938, well afterThegift)has inspired much recent study on the cultural construction of persons, and et individualisms, agencies(cf Carrithers al. 1985;Jackson& Karp 1990). In the small,day-to-day askingthatpervadesBotswana'sstreets and homes, as and as moral persons,as actorswithboth people are constituted individuals and caringand as equals with resourcesto the agency to demand attention affirm social position. Recognitionas such must be demanded and then a one is born with or because independent negotiated, agencyis not something In the of is maturesintonaturally. fact, banterand negotiation askingforthings and of denying thatemphaverydelicate,and thereare modes of asking, gifts, size the non-independenceof the asker,a lack of self-determination, and subordinate encumberedagency. or Individualsexistin Botswana,but theydo not pre-existsocial intercourse: they must be created,or create themselves repeatedly repetitively and Before turning to discuss in more detail the processes of asking and to in to self-assertion Mahalapye,it is necessary recallthat, contrary the models thatI have been discussing,these small deof giftexchangeand reciprocity mands in Botswana are often unfulfilled and, when fulfilled, seen to be As withoutreturn. such, theymightconceivably categorized 'pure gifts' be as in older exchangeschemes (cf Malinowski 1961: 177,191),or as the altruistic extremeof 'generalizedreciprocity' (Sahlins 1972: 193sq.). And yet,whereas Malinowskiand Sahlinsclearly assignboth pure gifts and generalized reciprocityto a tightfamily household domain,where altruistic or generosity prevails, the requeststhat occur on the streetsof Botswana are between relatedand unrelated friends, even among the merestof acquaintances, and partialstrangers. Before examininghow these requestscreate or invoke certainkinds of and 'subjectivity' agency(for the point is, of course,thatthereare more than to of in one), it is necessary give a brief profile the community which I lived.

Botswana Mahalapye,
of of Althoughthe 'spirit asking'and the system solicitations occur throughout in Botswana,it is withinthe Herero community MahalapyethatI encountered them. Mahalapye is a settlement nearly30,000 people, of whom perhaps of 2,000 are Herero. Other residentsare of Tswana, Xhosa, Kalanga, Lozi, Afrikaner otherorigin^. spiteof the imageof Botswanaas a Tswanastate, and In and in spiteof the factthatTswanado comprisethe bulk of Botswana'spopulation, the countryis actuallyan amalgam of different ethnic groups, all to or participating greater lesserextentin the politicaland popular cultureof the nation as a whole. This has long been the case for Central District,in which Mahalapyeis situated(cf Schapera 1952). In Mahalapyetoday, close to the capitalGaborone (200 km distant), lyingdirectly upon the country's main road, it would be misleadingto suggestthatthereis a Herero populationthat is entirely 'Herero' as distinct from'Tswana'. Instead,it is betterto consider both Tswanaand Herero as culturalidentities whose construction currently is beingforged along witha nationalculturein Botswana (cf Durham 1993). of Mahalapyesharescharacteristics both 'town' and 'village'.The ward structure, the importance of the chief's court and the ward headmen, the

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meandering pathways among compounds,and the partialdependenceof most on fieldsat the settlement's residents the agricultural perimeter construeMahalapyeas a village,as the termis understoodin Botswana (size is not a central issue: 'villages'have historically been verylargein this region).But a growing sense thatmanyof the residents now 'strangers' perhapsthreatening are and in the presenceof a busy shoppingarea, and increasing a non-personal way, importanceof local wage work oftenpromptscharacterizations more typicalof I urbantowns (cf Durham 1993: 38-49). For thisarticle, use the more neutral term'settlement'. MahalapyeHerero, liketheirTswananeighbours, work in middle-to lowerlevel government positions,in education,and in privateenterprises; others hold less desirablepositionsas laundresses, and maids.A numberof gardeners the households in Mahalapye, Tswana and Herero, are headed by women, caring for their childrenand theirchildren'schildren.Many women never marry;if theydo, it is generally afterhavingborne severalchildren, when in of their30s or 40s. A verylargeproportion the employedmen and women are posted elsewhereby their jobs; otherschoose to live and work at theircattlecare for school-goingchildrenin posts while theirwives or female relatives town.Remittances fromsalariedchildren, siblings and spouses are veryimportantforthe survival households,and are supplemented of withthe sale of grain and livestock.There are also those who are nearlydestitute, withouthouseholds or kin for support.In some cases an entirenuclear family, parentsand children, may be indigentor dependentupon othersworkingon a fairly permanent basis or in short term, task-specific projects, with little or no On Herero cattleposts, one findsmany of these dependants, remuneration. both Tswanaand Herero,as well as Sarwa.5They providea valuableand much exploitedsource of labour formanycattle-owners. Again as with Tswana (Comaroff& Comaroff1992), cattlehave historically means forthe creationof self-value: own cattleis to to formedan important want thatdoes not have a kind of self-reproducing security againstfinancial simplydissipatein the way thatmoney does. While to own cattleendows a it person with a kind of independenceand a sense of self-reliance, is only are the throughtransacting beasts thatsocial transformations achieved.With or In cattle,forexample,one mayformalliancesof marriage of patronage. the past,forboth Tswana and Herero, cattlewere in both materialand symbolic of and power were forged. senses the means by which relationships inequality in of The transfer cattle,in loans or bridewealth, articulated the transactors relationsof power and debt because of the ways in which individualsocial identities were embodiedand bound up withthecattletransacted (Comaroff& his remainedin the Comaroff1992: 142). Somethingof the giver, biography, in loaned cow,or accompaniedthe bridewealth, soughtreturn the formof and the bride,labour and acquiescence of politicalwill to thatof the giver.The of and created Herero 'chief' (omuhona) the nineteenth earlytwentieth century his to and retained positionto a largeextent his through ability controlpeople followers loans of cattle,and throughcattle,throughthe abilityto attract by throughthe abilitiesof large herds to attract dependants.Today,while cattle in remain'fetishized' Botswanato some degree(Comaroff& Comaroff1992),

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they have lost some of their unique power to garnersupport and enforce influence and power is often power.The path fromowninga beastto creating transactedthroughcommoditiessuch as clothes and radios, throughsuch or itemsas tractors, 'tipper'trucks, shops, taxisand conspicuous display, may who actually middle-men controlcattlesales even be usurpedby manipulative Access to these commoditizeditems,loans and favoursis as well as profits. both statusand productivity. yetthe evaluAnd essentialifone is to negotiate itemsis oftencombinedwithan assessment an imagined of ationof theselatter cattleherd.An owner of a profitable junk yardor bush mechanic's underlying will alwaysbe referred or described, an owner as tradeor a Mercedes driver to, of manybeasts. of and capital The ramifications cattletransactions, of more contemporary or for forman important and hierarchy such as tractors trucks, identity conof domain to the small solicitations day-to-day encounters.Through trastive of relations unequal power are bothcreated cattleand theirmodernsubstitutes, individuals eitherenrichedor reducedin influence, are indeand transformed; At pendence and the power of self-determination. the extreme end of cattlelesspeople, oftenwhole families, live in semi-servitude at dependency, of and dominance are the remotecattleposts others.However, subordination not the only subjectivestances that individuals(and other actors) may take There is also the possibility a towardsone anotherin Botswana's society. of in agencyforself-deterfairly egalitarian interchange, which an individualized minationforall partiesis recognizedand acknowledged. And thisis what the of life are all about: each playfulinterchange is small interactions everyday initiatedwith the possibility eitherof hierarchy, dominance, and one-sided of of It then, power,or of mutualconstruction equal terms interaction. follows, thatpeople are not construedas independent, actorsof full self-determining but as agentive powerspriorto anyinterchange, thattheirdefinition such must in In and perpetually be forged, reforged, each social encounter. the following sectionsI describein detailsome of the processesof askingand self-assertion in Mahalapye,using exampleswith disparatepartiesof askers.In the concluto sion, I return discuss how the spiritof the person thatis formedin small, solicitations stancespossible playful represents onlyone of a rangeof subjective in Botswanatoday.

to An invitation give
in Fredricka Heii handedme thepinkinvitation cardillustrated fig.1 My friend a She and her husbandhad been buildingand stocking small one day in July. and now,finally, was ready it 'generaldealer' storeoverthe pastcouple of years, cement-block had to open. The store,a sturdy structure, been in variousstages in since my arrival Mahalapye.Close to the centreof Heof near-completion rero ward, it would compete with several other nearbygeneral dealers for customersof soap, shelffoods,and sundryhousehold items.Whereas many Herero held hawkers'licences,and some ran small shops in the easterncattleHerero-ownedstorein Herero ward. But although post area,thiswas the first Fredrickahoped that ethnic loyaltywould bring notoriouslyfickle Herero

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MR & MRS J HEII REQUEST THE PLEASURE OF THE COMPANY OF

............................0..............................................

ON SUNDAY 29 JULY 1990 AT 730A.M. AT A PARTY TO OPEN THEIR NEW GENERAL DEALER (OMBANDI GENERAL DEALER) AT MAHALAPYE 129
FIGURE 1.

An invitation card.

shoppers,she told me her real strategy was to undersellthe neighbourhood I AlthoughI was delightedto receivethe printedinvitation, knew thatan invitation was not reallynecessary, people fromthe neighbourhoodattend for I all localcelebrations, or whether invited not.In thetwoyears livedin Mahalapye, had at invitations not figured anyweddingsor at otherparties, althoughI had been shown invitations severalyearspreprintedforthe Mahalapye marriage of invitation a statement as viouslyof one young couple. I viewed Fredricka's to the formality the event,a slightly of marker an exceptional extravagant party, not Herero shop but also officially marking onlytheopeningof the first recogin a nizing,in the Westernmotifof an invitation, new investment bourgeois in status(cf Schapera 1940:16 on an earlyWestern-style invitation Mochudi). The party would be all the more exciting because Fredricka and her husband were both membersof theZionist ChristianChurch,theZCC, and members of the churchfromall over the country would come and consecrate openthe of ing with the vigoroussong and dance which is characteristic theirprayers (cf. Comaroff1985 on ZCC). All through nightof Saturday, the the 28July, ZCC visitors danced and sang, as theywould continueto do throughout Sunday.On Sunday,everyoneelse, invitees and others, arrived join in theplentiful to foodand theformal opening of the store,completewith speeches and prayers and choral performances. It was indeed grandand exciting. I had not broughtmy printedpink invitation: Heiis and most of their the friends knew me well, and I had viewed the invitationonly as an announcementand a commemoration. had stuck it in my fieldnotes, I and I wantedto keep it. I was verysurprised, then,to discoverthatI was expectedto
competition.

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and returnit, along with a monetary bringthe invitation giftto the Heiis. A was set up in one cornerof the Heii compound, and Fredricka's small table in in brother, schoolteacher a nearby a village,was carefully recording a notebook the numberon each invitation mycase, 129), the name of the invitee, (in and the amount of that person's donation. When it was found that I had 'forgotten' my card, therewas some consternation. They did not need the but invitation, theydid want to recordfaithfully number:in the end, I was my and made a donation. It is important note to simplyissued a new invitation, did a thatwhile the invitations constitute request,a donationwas not coerced. The invitation cards,althoughprovidedwitha line forthe invitees'names,had on not been filledout and did not have names written them. Nor had a list been keptbeforethe party, connecting personsand the numberson the invitations.If I had not inquiredabout theactivities thelittle at tablein thecornerof the compound, no one would have remarked upon my negligenceto donate, nor asked aroundto findout whathad happenedto missingcardnumber129.6 The invitation an or had not been merelyan extravagance, announcement a In for It commemoration. had been a request,a solicitation a gift. thiscase, the giftdid not contribute towardsfood thatwould in turn be eaten, at least in theory, thecontributors happensat burialfeasts):itwas a straightforward by (as and unanticipated. and unspecifiable, donation,whose returnwas intangible This donationwould ideallybe followedby continuedsupportof the Heiis, laterpurchasesat theirstore. through The Heiis did not need the money donated (and it seems to have come to quite a substantialamount) to subsidize their store nor, given the large amountsinvolved, throwtheparty. to They had slowlybeen buildingup capital in the store,constructing over a number of years and finallyconverting it livestock and moneysavingsinto shelfstock.Cash to financesmall enterprises like theirsis also fairly readilyavailable throughthe National Development Bank, and Mr Heii, who had a securejob in Selebi-Pikwe,would have been well-offcouple. Alvirtually guaranteedhelp. They were clearlya relatively though theirhouse was small, Fredricka(who alwayswore the Herero long of some dress,which takesaround 10 metres cloth) had an extensive wardrobe, of it made of veryexpensivefabrics. Their six childrenwere all in school and embodied in the invitation were doingwell. The requestformoney, cards,was not made out of need. It became even clearerto me laterthatthe donationswere not made to the did in the enterprise itselfThe contributions not serveto constitute storewith a public,corporate contributors were not able to claim special rights character; of and privileges Fredricka (who was the shopkeeper)or the store.They were given no special credit,or special access to enclaved stock,but insteadhad to pay in cash forwhatwas on the shelves,like all othercustomers. but carrying much more a Instead, the pink cards were indeed markers, complex message than I had realized at the time. The requestfor donations a thattheyembodied announcedsimultaneously new social statefortherecipients - as shopowners,sellers, providersof goods and staples - and also an to attempted reassert essentialequalityof statusbetweenthe new Heiis and and neighbours. in theirold friends That the Heiis, and Fredricka particular,

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were attaining new positionof both prestige a and power in the community was undeniable.To the ambitiousHerero chief, thiscouple exemplified people who were 'doing things'with theirresources, and who formedan admirable to who either'did nothing', just 'ate' theirincome and stock. or contrast others The couple's ability drawupon income and storesto help otherswould give to them an influenceover familymembersand friends.But at the same time, with the invitational requests,the Heiis were soliciting recognition persons as with no more and no less power than others in theircommunityNeither would have carriedthe demand of return, nor needy,in which case the gifts coercively powerful, Heiis acknowledged themselves agencyequal to the for an thatof theirguests.When, near the end of the opening party, amount of the donatedcontributions announced,therewas a greatdeal of excitement was and approbation.It was not only the amounts which generatedinterest, but the process itself(I had oftenseen collectionsforvillageprojectsthathad raised trulypaltry sums of money,and yet receivedsimilarovertenthusiasmat the timeof announcement). This was the momentat which the statusof theHeiis as freeand unencumbered membersof the community was confirmed, able to make requeststhatcould be denied or honoured,and worthy receiving of the care of others. Simultaneously, donors were announced as independent the theircontributions givers, and voluntary generous.

toa 'Werequest contributionsproject help':

Handwritten a neatly on tornhalf-piece notebookpaper,but gracedwiththe of important officializing stampof the 'Ngwato Tribal Administration, Mahalapye in in illustrated fig.2 circulated Mahalapye CustomaryCourt', the solicitation in earlyMay 1989. The words written Setswana read: 'We requesthelp of in your children.They are still here, theyare Herero refugees.Now theyare returning home to Namibia. The monthof May 1989, the 13 May'. Accompasheet of similarformin Otjiherero,also nyingthe requestwas a typewritten the featuring authorizing stamp,which asked forassistancefora thanksgiving party to be given by the refugeesfor the 'families and communities' of had inBotswana. The Herero versionwas the one on which contributors scribedtheirnames,and severalpeople had contributed the time the sheet by came to me. None of the contributors this list was Herero: theywere on all Tswana,Kalanga,and Afrikaner, Batswana(thatis, citizensof Botswana).7I in was assured,however,thatotherlistswere circulating Herero ward. People

Re kopa dithuso bana ba lona bantsebale monoba tsa batshabiba Herero. Jaanongba boela ga Namibia. Kgwedi ya May1989 ka di 13 May.
NAME CONTRIBUTION ADDRESS

FIGURE

2.

Circulatedrequestfordonationto Namibian refugees.

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had donatedbetween50 thebe and 5 pula each, the amountsthatpeople usually contributed to the many solicitations that regularly circulated in Mahalapye. I I During my fieldwork, receivednumerous such solicitations. was even of sometimesasked to participate one of the circulators the requests(there as were always many for each project,each with her or his own stamped and Collectionswere made forthebeauofficial sheetforrecording contributions). tification the Herero public court,foran opening celebrationforthe new of BotswanaRailwaysrepairshops in Mahalapye,forthe supportof a neighbourhood crime preventioncommittee,for a giftfor the pending marriageof Ngwato royal AnthonyKhama, for erectinga statue of the late Sir Seretse Khama, Botswana's reveredfirstPresidentand controversial Ngwato chief Each solicitation featuredofficially stamped pieces of paper,on which contributors wrote their names and contributions, and which were collected What happenedto together alongwith the monies at the end of the enterprise. these lists,I neverfoundout. Contributionswere never coerced or heavilypressured.One could fairly easilyavoid the solicitations simplyclaimingto have no small change. On by the other hand, people actuallydid give fairly readilyin the small amounts and expected, or 50 thebe.The frequency readinessof thisflowof cash was 25 to alwayssurprising me, in thatmuch of it came frompeople who were not well-off, whose own livelihood depended primarily upon the generosity of workingchildrenor siblings. It can be argued thatthe public solicitations createdthe sense of a public, corporatenatureof the sponsors,especiallyin the case of the district statueof committee.The inscription conof Seretse Khama, or the crime prevention tributors'names simultaneously joins them in a community of mutual withthe identities interests, personalizesthe faceless cash,and endows thegifts of the donors.The recipient of becomes,in a partial sense,a conglomerate the donors - and the neighbourhood(for the crime prevention committee),the district the statue),and the nationstate(in the railway (for workshops)become indeed a res is publica.No specificreturn demanded,because no one wants to But it must be added that,because the de-publicize the stateor community. are contributions not coerced (as, forexample,taxesare), the solicitation process also acknowledgesthe independenceof the donors. The givers are not subsumed by the state,or the neighbourhood;nor are the lattercompletely of absorbedby thepeople's namescollected.Instead,an impression an equality of agency, abilityto requestwithoutclaimning an need, and an abilityto deny This impression, affirmation withoutacknowledging is or indigence, retained. in the processof asking,of an equalityof power betweenthe district, state,or othergroup,and the individualdonor (or denier) is an important correlate to in of the construction citizenship Botswana'sversionof democracy.8 And what of the Namibian refugees, theirway to a soon-to-be indeon pendent Namibia? Their 'home' in Botswanawas at Dukwe, a refugeecamp over 300 km northof Mahalapye,and it was therethattheyintendedto hold beforebeing repatriated few weeks later.Veryfew if the thanksgiving a party to of the any of the contributors the eventhad any intention attending party;

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of indeed,onlya small handful youngHerero even voiced an interest going. in In the end, the partywas cancelled by Dukwe police: rumour had it that a petrolbomb was found in the camp, an ominous warningof the suspected factionalism violence thatpeople fearedmightmarthe Namibian electoral and process. Not only did contributors plan to attendthe party, receivethe gratinot and no tude,of the refugees, one complainedthatthe projectwas not carriedout. I neverheard anyonewonder where the moneyhad gone. Nor did contributorscomplainwhen the Herero public courtwas not beautified, when the nor committeenever met (or, at least,people did not complain crimeprevention with reference the moneycollected).The requestitself to was as important as the contributions actuallymade. Like the Heiis, the Namibian refugeeshad suddenlyattained new status, a and the officialized requestsacknowledged that fact.For many years totallydependentupon Botswana, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees,and upon various German, Soviet, Finnish and otheraid providers, and with highlyrestricted choice as to where to live, learn or earn, the refugees were like the indigent, impoverished familiesthat populate Botswana'scattleposts and towns.Formerly citizensof no state,they had againbecome international persons,Namibiansnot onlyin a passive,tribal sense but also actively. with the Heiis, the solicitations As were an insistence thatthe Namibians had a position not dependentupon, but parallelto, and of hosts. worthy the respectof,theirformer The small interchanges thattakeplace on the streets Mahalapyebetween of friends and acquaintances, playful the demands and the indignant denials and the occasional gifts, for parallelthe solicitations projectsand the subscriptions to them thatperiodically takeplace throughout of Botswana.The playfulness the everyday encounteris absolutelynecessary:it is a game in which each an constructs independent and roughlyegalitarian participant agencyforheror himself The teasingaspect of the interchange may be absent frommore but of or formalsolicitations, thereis still the possibility fulfilment denial, a of tension between the formal intransigence the demand ('give me...!', of 'give...to projectX!') and the easy deniability the request.And both the interchanges between acquaintancesand the subscriptions projectsare unto and demands,or the ambiguouslythoughtof as fun. The mock indignation announcement donations(paltry large),are looked upon with enthusiasof or tic enjoyment.When the playful or enjoyable aspect of a transactionis kind of exchange,as we see in the completelyabsent,it is surelya different section. following

and the denials short-changing game Non-playful

There are, as I have suggestedearlier, otherkindsof exchangeand interaction or in Botswana.Demands made on kin are rarely characterized teasing, easy by asks his nieces and cousins forhelp haracceptanceof denial.When a farmer vestingcorn, when a nephew asks an aunt for a goat for a special purpose, when a niece or daughter asks a man fora new dress,theserequestsare serious and intendedto produce results.Denial of the requestedgiftmighteasilybe in construed denialof therelationship; fact, as construed an acknowledgment as

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of the free and independentnature of the requester.And the form of the requestquicklyindicatesits more constrained character circumscribing by the relationship betweenthe two actors.'I have been livinghere manyyears,you were born in the same house and lived together', are my father, mothers our a niece once pointed out to an uncle as she asked for a new dress. She also the pointedout, angrily, timeshe had made relationship-based requestsof her and to live in his compound and maintain household. the to workin his fields, It is important note thatwhen she referred workperformed the uncle, to to for thathe owedher something she was not necessarily in imputing material exact exchangeforthe work. Such a suggestion would significantly the nature alter of the relationship one of strict to or dependency, of contractual employment. servedemphatically recallthe history the relationthe to of Rather, reminders or between ship betweentheniece and uncle,and to reassert, provethe kinship them. The relationshipof kinship constrainsthe requesterand her uncle withinan expectedweb of family withinwhich one should interdependencies, honour reasonablerequestsand providesuch help as is available.The persons are involvedin thesefamilial transactions not fullyindependent agentsforthe with complete power of self-determination purposes of this encounter, and In denialsthatareviewed as unreasonable self-responsibility.thesetransactions, but real anger and even an occasometimesprovoke not mock indignation, sional courtcase. Yet anotherkind of transaction characterized the reduction, virtual is or by demandsinitiated as denial,of the personhoodof theasker.In some situations, fall A half-serious, half-hopeful flat. sneer,a real (and not a playful)scolding,a simple turning away can relegatethe askerto the positionof beggar.This is a to seriousturnof events:the power to ask forthings, solicitrecognition an as individualdeserving care and attention, denied to the asker.I could discern is in no actual difference askingin these instancesand in those describedabove, in unless therewas a subtledifference tone thatindicatedthatdemandswere being made out of real need and not as a social challenge.Batswanain Mahalapye readilyrecognized,however,the indigentand non-relatedchildrenas I and refusedto engage in the kind of repartee have been describing. beggars, There were often subtle clues to be found in dress, in demeanour,and in companions(or lack of them) thatcould signalthe indigenceof an asker.It is also truethat, while Mahalapyeis a settlement some 30,000 people, because of thereis one centrein whichall thebanks,courts, and government offices, most of the shoppingare located,manyresidents visuallyfamiliar. are Other strangers maybe distinguished fromthe truly indigent the companytheywalk in by with othersdeferenor talkto. Someone in veryraggedclothing, interacting would verylikelybe rebuffed the askinggame, and only infrequently in tially, And it should go withoutsaying thatthe truly givenrequestedmoney. indigent in play. are neverthemselves asked forthings, even In fact, needed cash, food,or clothhowever, verypoor people who actually to ing rarelyjust asked forthem.Instead,theywould offer do some work,such dead grass, washingcars,in return or as sweepinga house yardof debris,raking made a relationfor50 thebeor a pula. The exchangeofworkforcash thereby similarboth to 'real'jobs in the formalsectorand also to ship of employment,

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the long-term dependenciesdeveloped by those who lived on and cared for in cattleposts return food,clothing, for and occasionalcash. In both cases, the recipient subjectedto the demands of the giver. is And thisis why,as I menor tionedearlier, when asked people do not claim not to possess money, things, forthem,but simplysay the things'aren'there'. A claim of absolute material lackwould be a readyadmissionof a lackof self-determination, the necessity of of subjectionto the demandsof othersand dependenceupon others. Equalityas an agentive ability mustbe assertedin Botswanabecause it is not takenforgranted. Personsare not naturally selfrecognizedas self-possessed, reconstruct and reforge determining actors,but must continually themselves and othersas equals and as individuals or conversely unequals. Egalitarian as in is individualism, theconstruction unconstricted of personalagency, onlyone formof subjectivestancethatpeople experiencein Botswana.The experience of hierarchical of authority, impotence, constrained of choice and programmes, isjust as present the possibility equalityand independence.Cattle,in the as for as means of disrupting individualself-possession past, have been a primary are alreadymentioned; today,the constraints as likelyto originatein wage labour,in the enforcedhierarchies government of bureaucracy (where many people work),in unequal access to tractors, loans,capitaland labour.If thestate approachesits citizensat timesas if both it and the citizenry equally emare powered,it also simultaneously holds a veryreal swayover the people. This is not to say,however,thatthe creationof agencybetweena requester and a subscriber, betweentwo youngwomen on the streets, masksa more nor real presenceof power and hierarchy society. in Instead,it should be understood that these are two subjective stances, present as possibilities in of Botswana's culture.Both are essentialto the currentconfiguration power and polityin the country, the unequal distribution wealth and to the to of in of and democracy, which all citizensare generalunderstanding citizenship Both are stancesunderstood, and membersin theirsociety. equal participants and perhapsattempted, different such by people (or,sometimes, institutions by as the stateas actors)at different times. Women are more likelyto seek relations playful of equalitythan men, especiallyolder men. The factthatmen are more likelythanwomen to own the means of influence and dominationin cattle, employment opportunities, tractorsand trucks, accountsforthisfact.Further significantly explanationlies in of the culturalconstruction women as non-authoritative, non-domineering of actorsin Botswana society. While the economic and culturalconstructions women may be undergoing revisionin urban centresand in some sectorsof in employment, Mahalapye,women retainand even enjoy less 'modernized' social positions.But both women and men, young and old, are able to take to advantageof the possibilitiesinherentin every social interchange assert independenceand roughequality, dominationand subordination. or

Conclusion
I in Finally, want to evaluatemy findings Botswana againstthe generalstatementsmade by Bloch and Parry(1989) on money and moral economies. It is thatare the topic of my articleinvolve,forthe most clear thatthe solicitations

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part, moneyor highly commoditized goods. And, althoughsome of theseitems are highly personalizedin thecourse of transactions donationsare inscribed (as with names onto lists,or as itemsare 'enclaved' in playful it interchanges), is are in also clearthattheexchangerelationships veryshort-lived nature.Indeed, some are so shortthattheyare ended beforeany object is transacted, others seem truncatedat the moment of giving,in so far as there is no clear or In accountedreturn. the sociologyof exchangesproposed by Bloch and Parry, are short-term transactions opposed to a sphereof transactions concernedwith the 'reproductionof the long-termsocial or cosmic order' (Bloch & Parry are 1989: 24) in which images of transitoriness denied in favourof, or are transformed into,imagesof a perduring structure. Short-term transactions are, by contrast, 'associatedwith individualappropriation, competition, sensuous with exchangesbeenjoyment, luxuryand youthful vitality....often identified tween strangers' to (Bloch & Parry1989: 24). But, contrary what Bloch and Parrysuggest,the short-term and apparently acquisitiveinterchanges deof mands, denials,and solicitations thatoccur daily in Botswana (and which so level with annoyWesterners) are, in fact,concernedat the most fundamental long-termcategories,although they are sometimes between strangers(or as interacpartialstrangers) Bloch and Parry suggest.Through thesetransient tions, long-termsocial positions, such as individuality, independence,and or and inself-determination such as subordination, submissiveness, servility in debtednessare markedout and recreated Botswana.The individualas fully is agentive, fully self-determining,an essential part,ifonly a part,of Botswana's societyand culture.But he or she is not a pre-socialbeing,naturally occurring, with more perduringsocial roles of hierarchy and set up to be contrasted In encountersbeagentiveconstraint. these small and seemingly insignificant tweenboth friends and strangers, of the mostfundamental one elementsof the and The social orderis repetitively recursively reconstituted. question is, really, not how does the individual become socialized,but how does the individualas is individualbecome accountedfor,created.In Botswana individuality recogof nized not in the spirit Weberiancalculation(and acquisitiveness), in the but of spirit asking.
NOTES Researchwas carriedout in Mahalapye,Botswana and other locationswithin Botswana from December 1989 to August 1990 and fromFebruary1991 to May 1991. The researchwas genFellowship for Doctoral DissertationResearch, a Naerously supportedby a Fulbright-Hays tional Science Foundation DissertationResearch ImprovementGrant,No. BNS-8819432, and a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aidof Research. John Comaroff,Eric Gable, David Graeber, Arjun Guneratne, Charles Piot, Johanna Schoss, Debra Spitulnik,Becky Tolen, and Keith Adams made many excellent suggestionsand comments. I would like especially to thank Hastings Donnan for his contributions, and the two anonymous reviewersfor their quite appropriate suggestions.Finally,I want to thankPhillip VavirikizaHeii, who in 1994 found the basic ideas of this articleboth reasonableand interesting. I Pula and thebeare the currenciesin Botswana. One pula was equal to about fifty U.S. is cents during 1989-91, and is composed of 100 thebe. Ten thebe,therefore, the equivalent of about fiveU.S. cents. 2 'Hence it follows thatto give somethingis to give a partof oneself' (Mauss 1967: 10). See also Gregory(1982: esp.18-19).

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3 Gregorydifferentiates 'gifts'from 'commodities',in part,by this definition:'commodities are alienableobjects transactedby aliens; giftsare inalienable objects transactedby non-aliens' (1982: 43). His argumenthas been well criticizedwith respect to the nature of the object transacted concern in this articleis with (cf. esp. Appadurai 1986; Thomas 1991). My primary the natureof the transactors. Justas the natureof the object cannot be definedabstractly prior so to any transaction, the relationship between the actors has no firma priori status.My position follows Strathern'sargumentfor Melanesian societies: 'the creation of inequalities between men and clan groups is based on a premise of equality....Such relationships are, howwhere interaction ever, separatefromthose asymmetrically construed, proceeds on the basis of and in referenceto the particularity an inherentdifference of between the parties' (Strathern 1988: 49). Strathern, examiningclosely the ways in which 'gender demarcatesdifferent kinds of agency' (Strathern1988: 93), critiquesapproaches that see exchange as producingsociality, on the groundsthattheyassume a singlehuman agency. 4 Sahlins (1972: ch. 4, 'On the spirit of the gift') also remarksupon the continuitiesof Mauss's theories and the liberal philosophersof the Enlightenment, Hobbes and Rousseau. from the one I The points of similarity that he chooses to emphasize, however,are different observe here. Sahlins notes the similarities between the giftand the 'social contract'thatbinds together opposing selfishinterests Strathern (cf. 1988). 5 People known in Botswana as 'Sarwa' are oftenreferred in popular literature Bushto as men, a term now rejected for its derogatory content.The term 'Sarwa' itselfhas generated some controversy, well, for its own negative historyin the region. The Herero language as calls these people 'Ovakuruha'. 6 Debra Spitulnikhas pointed out the similarity the card with its number to a raffle of ticket.Raffleswere, in fact,a verycommon means of raisingmoney by various school groups for trips,reunions and the like. Studentswould roam the streetsof Mahalapye selling tickets to any buyerstheycould find.As with the invitation, therewere numbers distributed, contributions made, names carefullyrecorded on stubs, and usually some unredeemed (or 'unreAnd raffle-type collectionsare very similarto the solicitationsI describe later turned') tickets. in the article. The solicitations describedbelow are also similarto requestsmade under the official seal of the chief's court, when donations are carefully inscribedon a sheet of paper along with the donor's name, as I describe in the followingsection. 7 I make somewhat idiosyncratic use of the termsBatswana,Motswana and Tswana. Bantu words. The prefixes languagesmake extensiveuse of prefixes added to noun bases to construct locate the nouns in one of several classes, and are integralto the meaning of the full word. 'Tswana' is a root which refersto an ethnic category:with prefixesit becomes 'Botswana' (place of Tswana), 'Setswana' (Tswana language or culture), 'Motswana' (Tswana person), I 'Batswana' (Tswana people). As has become common in English writing, drop most of these When referring an ethnically to Tswana person or prefixes, relyingupon contextor modifiers. I people, I call him or them Tswana (withoutdistinguishing plurality). Similarly, use 'Tswana' to referto the language or culture. I retainBotswana, the name of the country.Rather idioI syncratically, use the term 'Batswana' (or its singular'Motswana') to referto a citizen of the stateof Botswana, not all of whom are ethnically Tswana. Although the Tswana language is the common language spoken in Botswana, most foreign phrases in this article are in the Herero language (Otjiherero). Where I have used Tswana the language. languagetext,I specify 8 Of course, there are other versionsof state power that do not referto local constructs of democracy.South Africanincursionsinto Botswana in the mid-1980s, for example, prompted road-blockswith powers of search and seizure. Often,as well, government military bureaucracy and to suggests the citizena more radicaldividebetweena statist government subjectpopulation.

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In 1989. Introduction. Moneyand themorality exchange (eds) J. Parry& M. of & J. Parry. Bloch. Cambridge:Univ. Press. Cambridge: Univ. Press. of ofpractice. Bourdieu, P 1977. Outline a theory giftin American Carrier, 1991. Giftsin a world of commodities:the ideologyof the perfect J. 29, society. SocialAnalysis 19-37. Cambridge:Univ. Press. of person. Carrithers, S. Collins & S. Lukes (eds) 1985. Thecategorythe M., the and of people. spirit resistance: culture history a SouthAfrican of Comaroff, 1985. Bodyofpower, J. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. and Comaroff, J.L. & J. Comaroff1992. Goodly beasts,beastlygoods. In Ethnography thehistorical published Press. (Originally imagination J.L. Comaroff&J. ComaroffBoulder:Westview (eds) 17 in Am. Ethnol. (1990), 195-216) Durham, D. 1993. Images of culture:being Herero in a liberaldemocracy(Botswana). Thesis, of University Chicago. and New C.A. 1982. Gifts commodities. York.Academic Press. Gregory, other cultures. and the Jackson, & I. Karp (eds) 1990.Personhood agency: experience M. ofseWfand inAfrican Press. Institution Smithsonian Washington: Man (N.S.) 28, 479-514. Kalaharicommunity. Kent,S. 1993. Sharingin a egalitarian Pacfic.New York E.P Dutton. of Malinowski,B. 1961 [1922]. Argonauts thewestern (trans.)I. Cunnison. New York: W. Norton. Mauss, M. 1967 [1925]. Thegift of 1985 [1938]. A category the human mind: the notionof person; the notionof self.In et The category the (eds) M. Carrithers al. Cambridge:Univ. Press. of person Western Desert Aborigines. place, among Pintupi sentiment, andpolitics Myers,F. 1986. Pintupi seWf: country, Berkeley:Univ. of CaliforniaPress. of 1989. Burningthe truck and holdingthe country: and Pintupiforms property identity. the (ed.) E. Wilmsen.Berkeley:Univ. of California of land In Wearehere: politics aboriginal tenure Press. Man (N.S.) 21, 453-73. and the 'Indian gift'. the Parry, 1986. Thegift, Indian gift J. and among foragers. Peterson,N. 1993. Demand sharing:reciprocity the pressureforgenerosity Am. Anthrop. 860-74. 95, Age economics. Chicago: Aldine. Sahlins,M. 1972. Stone tribe. London: Faber & Faber. life an Schapera,I. 1940. Married itn African (Monogr. socialAnthrop.11). London: London 1952. Theethnic compositionTswana of tribes. School of Economics & PoliticalScience. M. Berkeley:Univ. of CaliforniaPress. of gift. Strathern, 1988. Thegender the and Mankind15, 223-30. Thomas, N. 1985. Formsof personification prestations. 1991. Entangled objects. Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniv. Press. ethic (trans.)T Parsons.New York:Charles spirit capitalism of Weber,M. 1958. TheProtestant and the Scribner'sSons.

L'espritde la requete au Botswana,ou commentappeler les dons et negocierle pouvoird'agir

Resume L'article,qui explore la fagonenjouee et quotidienne de quemander au Botswana, relie ce phenomeneaux nombreusessollicitations assaillant ceux et celles qui sont perguscomme ayant les moyensde financer oeuvres publiques ou les projetsparticuliers. les C'est au cours de ces transactions que les gens se constituent mutuellementen acteurs autonomes. Pourtant,les de Etantdonne que requeteset sollicitations echangesne dependent a priori ces constructions. pas sont organiseesautour de la possibilitede refuser, acteurs sociaux sont places dans une les du essentiellement Un avec configuration paritaire. tel positionnement sujetpeut etrecontraste les positionnements d'autres formesde transaction Botswana, comme celles au caracterisant ou modelees par la hierarchie l'interdependance. L'articletermine contrastant en cetteapproche concernantl'echange,et qui avec celles qu'on trouvedans la plupartdes ecritsconventionnels assumentque les acteurssont independants ont un pouvoir d'agir equivalent avant meme et d'entrer interaction. en

VA College, Sweet Briar 24595, U.S.A. Anthropology, Briar Sweet Department of