Abstract

Explores certain textual representations of gift economies, contrasts them with the dominant market paradigm, investigates the values of a utopic horizon of gift exchange, and analyzes how the representation of the sexual or racial Other as economically the same or different can have a repressive force. Highlights two historical moments: the 18th-century transition from feudalism to the capitalist and colonial market economy, particularly in the work of Rousseau; and the purported transition to a post-capitalist and post-colonial economy in the late 20th century, as represented in the works of Cixous, Derrida, and Irigaray. Distributed in the US by St. Martin's Press. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.