| Research on the gift exchange and human reciprocity has been the focus of anthropologists. The wedding is the most important occasion in the life of people for the gift exchange. In the process of making marriage, presents at different stages are presented to different recipients. The influence of gifts always exceeds on both sides of the family itself and usually the new couple. This thesis takes a Tibetan natural village in the modern society as the object of study, and takes the wedding gift exchange as the key of research. Combined with the field work, the author will describe the gift exchange customs and show a comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of gift, the motivation, principles and social function so as to try to sort out the Tibetan interpersonal relationship and social network construction process which are invisible in Tibetan wedding gifts exchange.The thesis consists of introduction, body and conclusion. There are four chapters:The introduction part mainly introduces the general situation of Songduo Village and describes the characteristics of the geographical location and the residents living methods. Besides, the family structure, marriage form and property distribution of Songduo Village are briefly introduced.In the second chapter, the author will research the customs of sending gifts in marriage of Huarui Tibetan mainly from the following aspects:the two families, host, the guests and other three aspects. By the specific description of the customs of sending gifts in each process, the author will summarize the characteristics and connotation the concrete embodiment of gift exchange as a physical gift.In chapter3, the author will discuss two aspects mainly from the point of view of the concept for gift exchange. Firstly, the gift exchange of the couple (family) which showed by the betrothal gifts and dowry will be discussed. The motivation and principle of the wedding dowry and betrothal gifts in Tibetan wedding ceremony will be researched. Secondly, according to the differential pattern, the author divides the social network of offering presents by following others and sending back gifts in Songduo Village into three levels of kinship, geographical connection and karmic connection to research the motivation and principle of Tibetan gift exchange.The chapter4focuses on the function of gift exchange in Tibetan wedding ceremonies. The author means to explore how the exchange relationship maintains. First of all, the author will focus on the influence on heroes from the perspective of gift exchange between the two families. Secondly, from the perspective of gift exchange between the host and guests, the social function of gift exchange will be discussed briefly.In the end,we draw a Conclusion:In the author opinion, from the view of betrothal gifts and dowry, in Songduo Village, the betrothal gifts is greater than or equal to the dowry and they follow the traditional Tibetan way. But the betrothal gifts are not belong the parents of the bride, but to the bride herself. Receiving the betrothal gift is a way of the paternal inheritance for a son. Both the parents of broom and parents of the bride stand in the perspective of their children when considering the dowry and betrothal gifts. Judging from the flow direction of dowry and betrothal gifts, it’s easy to see that Tibetan women have a higher status in family. At the same time, from the statement for the gifts exchange between the host and guests, we can learn one important feature of the gift exchange between Tibetans is voluntary mutual help. Finally, due to the development of economy, the frequent contact with the outside world and the influence of the local Hans’high betrothal gifts, cash is used more in the gifts of Songduo Village. |
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