Property and Equality: Volume I: Ritualization, Sharing, Egalitarianism

The ethnography of egalitarian social systems was first met with sheer disbelief. Today it is still hotly debated in a number of fields and has gained sophistication as well as momentum. This collection of essays on "property and equality" acknowledges this diversification by presenting research results in two complementary volumes. They bring together a wide range of authoritative researchers most of whom have worked with hunter-gatherer groups. These two volumes cover existing ethnographic and theoretical ground while maintaining a clear focus on the relation between property and equality. The book consists of the most recent work of prominent members of the original group of researchers in hunter-gatherer studies among them James Woodburn and Richard Lee, and very recent ethnography on hunter-gatherers and other egalitarian systems.

Thomas Widlok obtained his PhD in Social Anthropology at the LSE and has taught anthropology in the universities of London, Cologne, Kyoto, and Heidelberg. He was a member of the Max Planck Cognitive Anthropology Research Group in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Currently he is a research staff member at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/Saale, Germany.

Wolde Gossa Tadesse obtained his PhD in Social Anthropology at the LSE and published on East African pastoralist groups. Currently he is a research staff member at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/Saale, Germany.