ABSTRACT
The starting point of this chapter derives from the arguments put forward by Annette Weiner (1976, 1985, 1992) in a series of books and papers concerning the relationship between women and inalienable possessions in Pacific Island societies. Inalienable wealth, according to Weiner, refers to things that objectify a group's cosmological authentication and through which their identity is reproduced: objects, such as sacred heirlooms, which may be temporarily alienated in exchange, but which are ultimately reclaimed, removed from, and/or kept out of, circulation. Weiner suggests, moreover, that it is not primarily men, but women who are involved in the processes through which inalienable wealth is created and maintained. Specifically, Weiner argues, the symbolic association of women with biological reproduction cannot simply be viewed as a way of circumscribing them according to the nature/culture, female/male, private/public divides, but rather must be seen as metaphors for describing women's involvement in the production of cultural value and social identity, that is, the reproduction of cosmological authentication. One example of this is women's involvement in the production, exchange and display of cloth and clothing, which in the Pacific, as in many other parts of the world, is not only symbolically linked with reproduction but also an important form of inalienable wealth (see e.g. Weiner & Schneider 1989).
