Genevieve Vaughan

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Vaughan, Genevieve: Genevieve Vaughan works at the intersection of theory and practice through her theorization of the gift economy as a counter-discourse addressing patriarchy and global capitalism.

The gift economy is one in which goods are distributed to needs. The logic is based on "mothering" in which a relationship between giver and receiver is one in which the former responds to the needs of the latter. The transaction of giving and receiving creates bonds which can be seen as the basis of the circulation of goods in economies without markets as such. These gift transactions have been viewed through the market perspective as exchanges (do ut des); however, the maternal distribution of goods directly to needs can be seen as a foundational social principle which has been absorbed and co-opted by market exchange, but not eliminated.

Considering mothering as a mode of distribution that coexists with or lies beneath the market economy allows us to think of it as an economic structure with its own superstructure of ideas and values: other-oriented, people-before-profits values, coming from and validating the process of unilateral giving and receiving. While punishment and reprisal derive from the exchange paradigm, mercy and restorative justice derive from the gift paradigm

The gift principle informs Homo Donans in opposition to ego centered homo economicus and is an important element in the values that motivate work for social change and a vision of alternative "nurturing" economics based on need and not on profit.

These values and the gift mode of distribution already exist though they are presently burdened by parasitic Patriarchal Capitalism. By bringing them forward we can create the leadership necessary for a non violent revolution of maternal people, which among other things will not exact payment for wrongs done but will promote the satisfaction of needs.

Genevieve Vaughan’s book For-Giving, a Feminist Criticism of Exchange, (Plain View Press 1997– now Anomaly Press) and two edited books Athanor:The Gift/ Il Dono: A Feminist Analysis (Meltemi Editore 2004), and Women and the Gift Economy: A Radically Different Worldview is Possible (Inanna Press 2007), her e book, Homo Donans (2007), two children’s books Mother Nature’s Children (Anomaly Press 2001) and Free/Not Free (2007) her cd Songs for the Tree of Life, and a film on her life: Giving for Giving and her many articles are also available free at her website www.gift-economy.com. A description of the Foundation for a Compassionate Society, an all-women activist foundation for social change which Genevieve founded and directed from 1987-1998 can also be found on the website as well as the audio recordings of the presentations of many international women from the conference she organized A Radically Different Worldview is Possible: The Gift Economy Inside and Outside Patriarchal Capitalism (2004) and the 2nd World Congress of Matriarchal Studies (2005) under the direction of Heide Goettner-Abendroth. In 1992 Genevieve created a temple to the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet near the nuclear test site in the Nevada desert. The temple is still in existence and open to visitors. For more information see www.sekhmettemple.com.

Papers:

• A Radically Different World View is Possible (pdf)
• Gifts and Exchanges - Genders are economic identities, and economies are based on gender (pdf)

Vaughan's Website
http://www.gift-economy.com