| Reciprocal exchange has been a key area of study for anthropologists and sociologists,and reciprocal exchange exists in almost any community in human society.It is both an economic and a cultural behavior of human beings.The Mongolian people’s "grass and water" way of life makes mobility a fundamental characteristic,and economic life is decentralized.Because of these characteristics,Mongolian society cannot be completely self-sufficient and needs to rely on the "help" of the surrounding people to meet its daily needs.As a result,the traditional Mongolian nomadic society is characterized by reciprocal exchange in the form of gifts and labor assistance,redistributive exchange in the form of tribute,and market exchange in the form of long-distance trade.In the Mongolian herding areas of Xinjiang Kharkant,reciprocal exchange is indispensable to the daily life of herders,and it exists in all aspects of herding production and life.This paper is a study of reciprocal exchange in the daily life of Mongolian herders in Kharkant,Zhaosu County,Xinjiang.Based on the four seasons of the herders’ pastures,the social relations and reciprocal exchange system in a certain region are discussed in detail,starting from the herders’ production life.Due to geographical transportation constraints and the "backwardness" of production tools,reciprocal exchange is extremely important in pastoral areas.The pastoral "community" based on blood and geographic ties,through food sharing,gift exchange,and reciprocal exchange in pastoral production.They not only realize the reproduction and redistribution of internal resources within a dynamic boundary,but also maintain interpersonal relationships to a certain extent,further promoting the development of nomadic economy and social stability.However,with the acceleration of modernization,the pastoralist area,the research site,is in a period of general change.Nomadic society is moving from "closed" to "open" and from "single" to "multiple".The emergence of modern communication equipment and transportation has further compressed the dual space between towns and pastoral areas,accelerated the modernization process of pastoral areas,and affected the modernization of pastoralists.After herders settle down,their production and life are involved in the market exchange system,and social relations are also being reconstructed.When money became the medium of human interaction,it accelerated the change of reciprocal exchange practices.Homemade gifts gave way to monetary,commodity-based gifts as the herders’ first choice for gift-giving.The exchange of labor,such as helpers and labor exchange,was gradually replaced by "hired labor".The mechanization of the market,while increasing the efficiency of production,dissolves the traditional exchange of production materials and reduces the need for reciprocal exchange.These multiple factors have made it possible to change the practice of reciprocal exchange.Therefore,this study takes pastoralists’ reciprocal exchange practices as an entry point and aims to respond to the following core questions: how does reciprocal exchange operate in pastoral areas and what does it mean for nomadic societies?On this basis,what are the reasons for the alienation of reciprocal exchange in the transition period? The aim is to explore the internal logic of reciprocal exchange in terms of social relations and the system of reciprocal exchange. |
