Hi! You're looking at a SUPERB, virtually FLAWLESS and UNREAD condition book which is RARE, hard to find and OUT OF PRINT and an anthropological study of human society in Oceania edited by MONIQUE JEUDY-BALLINI and BERNALD JUILLERAT--the book is an unstated First Edition and a HARDCOVER with the ORIGINAL DUSTJACKET and is NOT a remainder copy. This book is in SUPERB and virtually FLAWLESS and UNREAD condition and the book itself has a small owner's stamp on the upper and opening page edges and upper right corner of the blank first page but NO other significant imperfections; the dustjacket has just a few slight scuffs and slight shelfwear but NO other significant flaws!  The book is titled People and Things: Social Mediations in Oceania and it was edited by MONIQUE JEUDY-BALLINI and BERNARD JUILLERAT; it was published by Carolina Academic Press in 2002 and is an unstated 1st Edition copy.

This book is a collection of eleven essays, each of which analyzes one or more forms of gift-giving, exchange, or ritual use of objects in societies of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Australia. As considered in these essays, objects used in exchange relationships have the capacity to mediate individual relationships and relationships among groups as well as relationships between men and spirits.

By "objects" authors Jeudy-Ballini and Juillerat mean both the utilitarian and the religious, including shell currency, animals, plants, sacred drinks, even enemy heads or imaginary goods. These objects may serve as compensation for services rendered or for women received in marriage; indeed, the object of exchange may be another woman. An object may also be kept in reserve as a precious relic or capitalized as ceremonial gift. Elsewhere the object of exchange may be received from a god or presented as an offering to spirits of the dead. In every case it is the incarnation of an identity ― individual or collective.

Contributors to the volume include Francoise Douaire-Marsaudon, Serge Tcherkezoff, Barbara Glowczewski Barker, Marika Moisseeff, Brigitte Derlon, Maurice Godelier, Piere Lemonnier, Stephane Breton, Alban Bensa, and the editors.

A fantastic find, and a beautiful copy of this book!