Book description
In a world of finite resources, expanding populations, and widening
structural inequalities, the ownership of things is increasingly
contested. Not only are the commons being rapidly enclosed and
privatised, but the very idea of what can be owned is expanding,
generating conflicts over the ownership of resources, ideas, culture,
people, and even parts of people. Understanding processes of ownership
and appropriation is not only central to anthropological theorising but
also has major practical applications, for policy, legislative
development and conflict resolution. Ownership and Appropriation
significantly extends anthropology's long-term concern with property by
focusing on everyday notions and acts of owning and appropriating. The
chapters document the relationship between ownership, subjectivities and
personhood; they demonstrate the critical consequences of materiality
and immateriality on what is owned; and they examine the social
relations of property. By approaching ownership as social communication
and negotiation the text points to a more dynamic and processual
understanding of property, ownership and appropriation. Veronica
Strang is Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Auckland. Mark
Busse is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Auckland.
