From deception to gift (Application of interpersonal communication theories to anthropological analysis)

Abstract

The current exploratory and explanatory research argues that theories, which were developed in the field of interpersonal communication, could be applied for the analysis in anthropology. It is supposed that interpersonal and intergroup communication itself could be the subject of anthropological research. The author argues that recent development of the both disciplines — interpersonal communication and anthropology — gives scholars opportunity to analyze complicated cases of human communication both cross-culturally and inside individual ethnic groups. In the current research this possibility is demonstrated by the example of modifications of such a communication phenomenon as "gift". The history of the development of this communicative tool is considered, starting with the pre-gift phase of exchange and the stage of origin of the phenomenon of gift exchange, then shows the form of degradation of the mechanism of donation to the phenomenon of bribery, and finally, the form of revival of the practice of giving in some modern small ethnic communities in the post-Soviet period.