(Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, 2002) Dickinson, Mark
"Gifting" or "gift exchange" is an economic practice carried out in cultures worldwide, from so called "archaic" times to the present day. Definitions vary: to some, gifting is a mirror image or a shadow of the current market economy. To others it is the very opposite - generalized, delayed, unreciprocated, unpredictable, both creative and destructive. This Area of Concentration considers the latter definition, and focuses on how gifting economies among human societies can reflect, involve, and merge with cycles within nature.