Vigencia de Los argonautas del Pacífico occidental: teoría y metodología etnográfica en el estudio del sistema de intercambio kula

Abstract

The article reflects on three issues: the theoretical and ethnographic model employed by Bronisław Malinowski in the Melanesian system of kula exchange, their similarities and variations within the study of the market system in the Valles Centrales of Oaxaca, and the usefulness of the model to interpret the practice of festive reciprocity gueza, reproduced among Oaxacan Mixtec communities, making use of ethnographic, theoretical-conceptual and epistemological juxtapositions. Thus, with this theoretical and ethnographic intersection between kula, markets system and gueza, it is intended to prove the validity of Malinowski’s thought and its usefulness for thinking about contemporary reciprocity practices.