Tag Archives: myth

In this article, I continue the anthropological interest in gifting. I trace the story of a historical failed gift of a South Indian woven mat to Queen Elizabeth II, which, in later accounts was transformed into a successful gift. Identifying this mythical successful gift as a “free gift” (following Jacques Derrida) reveals the power of descriptions in making relations. I argue that the transformation of an unsuccessful gift into a mythical free gift is a product of magnification and supplementation, with concomitant effects on forms of sociality and personhood. I also explore the relationship between gifts and commodities through a focus on what might be termed “inalienable” commodities.

Amidst a “crisis” of clandestine migration in West Africa, tales about the exploits of “missing men” circulated through Dakar, Senegal. In this article, I explore how these myths enabled debate about the changing parameters of male social visibility, nation building, and social success in the city at the same time that they paradoxically recast as spectacularly present men who had failed to achieve by these standards. I argue that both public discourse about and scholarly analysis of the impact of transnational migration on those left behind recenter the activities of some men, rendering invisible other modes of being and belonging.