Cover -- Title Page -- Colophon -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Orthography -- Foreword -- Stephen C. Levinson -- Preface -- Introduction -- General approach -- The principle of reciprocity -- The gift and inalienability -- Inalienable possessions -- 'Primitive money' -- Ranked exchange -- Melanesian inequalities -- Articulation in space and time -- Summary of chapters -- Prologue -- Massim Transformations -- A sea of islands -- Austronesian hierarchy and its transformations -- The Austronesians in the Massim -- Hierarchy in Kiriwina -- Further traces of hierarchy in the Massim -- Ranked exchange in the kula -- Modern history in the Massim -- The Louisiade Archipelago -- Louisiade history -- Part one -- The Setting -- Rossel Island -- The island -- Climate -- Around Rossel -- Power relations before colonialism -- Rossel history -- Frameworks of Practice -- The Pum valley and its hamlets -- Chaambê -- Settlement history and pattern -- Clans and subclans -- Totemism -- Linked subclans and clans -- Land tenure and cognatic kinship -- Dimensions of Power -- Diffuse leadership -- Knowledge -- Occult power -- The positioning of women -- Economic Domains -- Socio‑economic domains -- The domestic domain -- Production -- The commodity domain -- Part two -- Ranked Exchange -- Shell Money and Valuables -- The ndap -- Material, manufacture and appearance -- Ndap divisions -- The quantity of ndap -- The origin of ndap -- Anêwê: the supreme ndap -- The very high division -- The high division -- The low division -- Naming ndap -- The principles of classification and evaluation -- The historical transformation of ndap exchange -- The kê -- Kê classification -- Kê mythology -- Ownership and circulation -- Quantity of kê -- Gendered wealth? -- Ceremonial procedures of kê exchange -- The valuables -- Ceremonial stone axes -- Ceremonial lime spatulae.

The shell necklaces -- Summary of indigenous currencies in exchange -- The Cycle of Social Reproduction -- Marriage and bridewealth -- The marriage contract -- The generation of sides -- Ndê kîgh:ê kê: the first bridewealth feast -- The bridewealth 'patrol' -- Naandyini: the second bridewealth feast -- Bridewealth variations -- Kpépi kóó pwapî: the birthday party -- Exchange relationships during marriage -- Death and mortuary exchanges -- Death and the funeral -- Earlier mortuary practices -- The mortuary feast -- The mortuary exchanges -- The kinship exchanges -- The meaning of the mortuary exchanges between kin groups -- The payments for the work of the funeral -- Bridewealth at remarriage -- Preferred marriage and the wider marriage pattern -- The Pig Feast -- The organization of pig‑feasting -- Shaking the ground of the pig -- The work of raising money -- The work of preparing the feast -- The feast -- The redistribution -- The aftermath of the feast -- Pig feast reciprocation -- Other kinds of pig feasts -- The Remaining Forms of Payment -- House and canoe payments -- Payments for food -- Pukó: payment for trade goods -- Minor feasts -- Compensation payments -- Payment to deities -- Replacement payments -- The former institution of prostitution -- Frequency of payments -- Conclusion -- The Rules and Practice of Ranked Exchange -- The organization of scaled payments -- Financial procedures -- Balancing value: security and replacement -- Pulling a return: soliciting gifts -- Pledging money and words -- Deposit and substitution: reduced prestation -- Aside on the spirit of the gift -- Substitution of kê -- Exchange and deception -- Epilogue -- A Papuan Plutocracy -- Ranked exchange -- Why all this complexity? -- The Austronesian connection -- The contemporary profile of social stratification.

Commodity and ranked exchange: a process of interference -- Plutocracy -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Manuscripts -- Government Publications -- Books, articles and theses -- INDEX.

The financial crisis has shown how money can become an instrument for power and greed. The nature of money and financial institutions has again become issues of importance. This will also be the case in anthropology.John Liep's long awaited monograph on Rossel Island in Papua New Guinea analyzes an alternative monetary system. Liep studied the indigenous shell money for two years. The money is ranked in twenty classes. It is not a mean of market exchange but measure value in terms of status difference. It is paid in bridewealth, at pig feasts and for status symbols such as houses and canoes. Old big men exchange shells of high rank and dominate the economic system. They have prohibited the paying of bridewealth in modern money and thereby maintain their power over junior men and women.John Liep's book advances the understanding of ranked exchange and of the origin of money as a token of distinction and power. It is richly illustrated with photos and drawings of which many are in colour.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.