"Give me some sugar!": rhythm and structure of sharing in a Namibian community

Abstract

'Cooperation and the emergence of social order are two key problems in the social sciences. This paper tests two models (kinship and reciprocity) to explain the selection of sharing partners among the Damara and Nama in Namibia. The second part of the paper deals with the social order that emerges from local exchange rules. Recently network science has demonstrated that many networks share one fundamental property: they are 'scale free'. Exchange networks among the Damara and Nama differ in many ways from this commonly observed typology. The overall network is better connected, less centralized and less vulnerable than most 'scale free' networks. Simulations show that these properties emerge from the most salient cultural sharing norm: reciprocity.' (author's abstract)|