The Nomadic Alternative – Page 161

We naively imagine that economic considerations ultimately outweigh ideological ones. Societies, specializing in fish, corn, dairy produce or manufactured goods - however much they may distrust each other - must come to terms if one has what the other wants, unless, by economic stranglehold or brute force, the one can impose its will on all or any of them. The formalized rules of hospitality, the tacit acceptance of economic dominance, and the regulation of political frontiers have seemed to be connected with an overriding desire not to interrupt the vital flow of trade in necessary goods. In all states, ancient and modern, diplomatic relations appear to answer the call of material self-interest and aim at protecting the home economy.

But among the hunters and gatherers, a man, his wife and their immediate dependants are a self-contained economic unit. They lack nothing they cannot supply themselves and have little or no economic reason to trade with anyone. Yet trade with their neighbours flourishes unabated and often seems to constitute the main purpose in life. The Bushmen set aside four or five days a week free from work and use this time to visit and revisit their friends and neighbours, frantically bargaining and bartering, giving and receiving goods which have absolutely no economic value whatever or those which they can make just as well themselves. "The purpose", Radcliffe-Brown wrote of the islanders of North Andaman, "... was a moral one. The object of exchange was to produce a friendly feeling between the two persons concerned and unless it did that it failed of its purpose. It gave great scope for the exercise of tact and courtesy. No one was free to refuse the present that was offered to him. Each man and woman tried to outdo the others in generosity. There was a sort of amiable rivalry as to who could give away the greatest number of valuable presents."

Trade for trade's sake is just as important as trade in economic necessities - probably more so. It is a vital means of communication among people who do not readily understand each other. One cannot overstress the importance of this point in any discussion of economic relations.