God-parenthood’s sacrificial structure: ontology of inequality?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4013/4880Abstract
This study criticizes a conjunction between symbolic and functional analysis of godparenthood. It is shown that god-parenthood is not only a religious or kinship institution and that it does not reinforce inequalities that supposedly pre-exist it, but rather it is a structure that generates inequalities. God-parenthood is understood as a structure by the description of reciprocity circuits. Understood as the circulation of a child from biological towards spiritual parents, to be returned by “grace”, it implies asymmetries and inequalities. It also evokes the ontology of the social, founded on non-mercantile values’ circulation, and on what Sahlins (2008) designates “elementary structure of political life”. It is shown that reciprocity is related to the sacrificial aspect of the child’s gift, and also to other types of considerations, such as that present in the catholic vows. Finally, it is demonstrated the relevancy of this type of analysis for future understandings of other benefits and categories often taken as purely economic ones, such as “labor”.
Key words: reciprocity, inequality, god-parenthood, sacrifice.
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