Double roll of feathers

More than being just an economic act, the exchange of goods can have a social, emotional and even a political dimension. In Oceania, in a change from the way the western monetary system operates, people are bound together by exchanges that reaffirm or destabilise hierarchies. These exchanges are governed by assessment practices and rules of equivalence related to several goods that have a dual role; they act as utilitarian objects and as currency. Power is created, undermined or clearly wielded here through the accumulation, redistribution or hoarding of currencies.