Abstract

Transactions in the U.S. garage sale range from the commercial to the giftlike, in a Maussian sense. As two-thirds of the participants, women create a sense of community through garage sale exchange. This article explores how women, partly differentiated along lines of race and class, solidify their personal relationships, transmit something of themselves with their possessions, transform their own lives in the process, and contribute to a broader spirit of community through the generalized reciprocity and even moral economy that manifests in giftlike exchange. There is an important link, both material and symbolic, between women's relational skills, their association with the home and the moral, and the creation of community in the garage sale.