Bride Price Debate: A Comparative Analysis in Anthropology (PNG)

This essay delves into the anthropological debate surrounding bride price, exploring whether it functions as a gift or a commodity. The analysis draws upon key arguments from anthropologists like Margret Jolly, contrasting the perspectives of gift-giving, rooted in mutual dependence and reciprocity, with the commodity view, which emphasizes alienable and anonymized transactions. The essay uses the context of Papua New Guinea (PNG) to illustrate these contrasting viewpoints, referencing the works of Mauss and Karl Marx to differentiate between gifts and commodities, and contrasting Jolly's ideas with those of Holly Wardlow. It further examines the commercialization of bride price, the influence of Christian missionaries, and the impact of HIV/AIDS, concluding that bride price can be viewed as both a gift and a commodity depending on the dominance of social aspects versus personal relationships.

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The debate on bride price as either a commodity or gift has existed for very long in
various areas and forums. The existence of this debate for so long can be proven from the ancient
and foreign writings on Oceania that involved the Christian missionaries, anthropologists, policy
makers and most recently feminist theorists. Margret Jolly in his article "Braed Praes in Vanuatu:
Both Gifts and Commodities?" discusses the two sides of this debate in her key arguments. She
explains that from the anthropology point of view bride price can be both a gift and a commodity
and uses the scenario of Papua New Guinea (PNG). For us to understand this debate, she uses the
work of famous anthropologists Mauss and Karl mark to differentiate between a gift and a
commodity. Gifts are basic items embedded in relations of mutual dependence and reciprocity
while commodities are alienable and anonymized items, (Jolly, 2015). Therefore, for the case of
commodities, there are no social relations involved between the giver and the receiver. This
makes the bride price a gift since it involves relations between people and there is the reciprocity
concept. Bride price can also be viewed as a gift since it is a customary ritual that brings together
different families creating strong interpersonal relations, (Silva, 2018). In this aspect, her ideas
contradict with Holly Wardlow's ideas in "Anger, Economy and Female Agency…" among the
Huli of Papua New Guinea.
Bride price can also be considered as a commodity. In Jolly's arguments, even the early
Christian missionaries were against bride price and viewed it as a commodity especially where
young girls were forcefully married off to old men. The girls were considered as commodities
where the highest bidder gets the girl. The bride price has been commercialized with some
parents using their girls as a source of income, (Eves, 2019)). This commercialization of the
bride price had gone very high in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to the extent that Selwyn Garu

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attempted to ban cash for bride price payment in Vanuatu. This shows how the bride price was
mainly used for economic purpose thus losing its intended social objectives. Bride price is also a
commodity since some irresponsible men have taken advantage to mistreat their women as well
as deny them custody of the children in the event of a divorce or separation, (Silva, 2018). This
concept is in line with Papua New Guinea (PNG). The spread of HIV/AIDS pandemic has
intensified the concerns in international health and women's studies. These studies on women
have led to the shift from the use of the word prostitution to sex worker and recently to sexual
networking and survival sex. These words are increasingly eliminating the social aspect that was
portrayed in the earlier words such as prostitution. The basic concept and trend is the shift from
social relations to monetary sexual exchanges.
In summary, the bride price can be seen as both a gift and a commodity. It is seen as a
gift if the social aspect is dominant and evident, but it can be seen as a commodity if the personal
relation is missing.

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References
Eves, R. (2019). ‘Full price, full body’: norms, brideprice and intimate partner violence in
highlands Papua New Guinea. Culture, health & sexuality, 1-14.
Jolly, M. (2015). Braed Praes in V anuatu: Both Gifts and Commodities?. Oceania, 85(1), 63-78.
Silva, K. (2018). Bride
‐Price. The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 1-3.
Silva, K. (2018). Marriage Prestations, Gift Making, and Identity in Urban East Timor. Oceania,
88(1), 127-147.