American University of Armenia Recyprocal Relationships Essay

*Reciprocity is the idea that there is intrinsically a relationship and expectation when gifts are given. The simplest way to see this is to think about when you give a good friend a birthday gift. Then when your birthday rolls around, you wait for them to give you something. If they don’t, would you be disappointed? What would that tell you about your relationship or about that friend?

Reciprocal relationships do not have to be equal in terms of money or even sentiment of the gifts that are given. Think about a child getting a bicycle from their parents and then giving their parent a macaroni necklace in return. The necklace is not equal in price to the bicycle, and nor is the bicycle equal in terms of sentiment to the necklace, yet they can be equivalent gifts. You don’t see parents on Christmas morning thinking that their 7-year-old child should really get his or her act together to give them better gifts. Reciprocity demonstrates relationships between the gift-givers. Gifts are tangible evidence of the social relationships between givers and recipients. They often help us understand other people and our relationships with them.

Answer the following two questions:

1. Who do you give gifts to and on what kinds of occasions?

2. When would your feelings be hurt by not receiving something in return to match your gift?

*This exercise is taken from The Field Journal for Cultural Anthropology by Jessica Bodoh-Creed, 2020.