from pigs to pearlshells: the transformation of a New Guinea Highlands exchange economy

Studies of exchange in Melanesia have usually emphasized the functional value of transactions for maintaining social relations. The material side of transactions — what items are exchanged, how they are produced, and what relations arise from their production — have held secondary interest for anthropologists. This paper analyzes two neighboring, interconnected exchange systems in the New Guinea Highlands: the Melpa moka, a system primarily of...