The Gift.

During my first year of my Social Anthropology degree at SOAS I learned about the importance of the ritual of gift giving and exchange.
Marcel Mauss was a French Sociologist/Anthropologist who came from Durkheim's school. Mauss argued that gifts are never "free", he believed that sometimes humans do not want to be caught up in the practise of gift giving but due to the nature of the exchange they are left trapped in the obligation to give. If you have received a gift you must also give a gift. If you do not give, the spirit of the gift is broken and bad things will/may occur. *

I decided that grouping my necklaces into ones which were gifts would be a good way to show you the part of my collection that I didn't buy for myself.
As I didn't buy or chose these necklaces for myself it's hard to tell you where they are all from.

I'm starting off with necklaces I got for Christmas off my Aunty Barbara and Uncle Hal. AB reads this blog sometimes so hello!

I think I got this at Christmas 2009?

This one I got Christmas 2010.
If I'm honest I probably wouldn't buy these necklaces myself, as they're not the same sort of style I collect. However having said that I do really like them both. I think in some ways the fact I'd not buy them myself makes them better as it's good to have someone elses style input sometimes.
They are both beautiful necklaces and very unusual.....especially compared to my other necklaces! So I'm pleased with these :)

Next up is a heart necklace from Dorothy Perkins my best friend Hayley bought me for Christmas 2010. Again I probably wouldn't buy this myself, but again I really like it. I'm pretty sure Hayley told me part of the reason she bought me it was so she could borrow it. She hasn't yet, but if she does move back to Newcastle soon I'm sure it won't be long before she does!

Next up is a little girl necklace that my ex housemates (and very good friends) Lucy and Harry brought back from me on their recent trip to New York. It's my first Forever 21 item and I LOVE it. I can't wait to visit the newly opened Oxford Street store.

This owl locket is my most recent necklace! I got this off Jenny on Tuesday! She bought me it as a thank you because I told her about a job vacancy which she got!
As you will all know I love owls so this is great! Its a locket so me and Jenny decided I should put a photo of Jake Gyllenhaal and James Lafferty (aka Nathan Scott) in it. We were watching One Tree Hill and talking about how if a Jake G question came up on Pointless I'd totally win. Haha.


I hope you enjoyed my post, if you want more anthropology related posts then be sure to check out my friend Catherine's blog over at Style anthro. Also, I'm starting up an Anthropology of (vegan) Food blog, which I will link here once its all sorted.
Enjoy!

*sorry if my facts are wrong and/or confusing Mauss' argument with Sahlins, its been a long while since I read either and I'm going purely off memory as I can't find my notes!