Introduction

In a world of finite resources, expanding populations, and widening structural inequalities, the ownership of things is increasingly contested. In 2008 a joint international conference in Auckland brought together the anthropology associations of the UK and the Commonwealth, New Zealand and Australia to consider the theme of ‘Ownership and Appropriation’. Appropriation – the act of making something one’s own – is fundamental to a claim of original ownership. But such acts are not confined to laying claims to things that are previously ‘un-owned’. To the concepts of ownership and appropriation, Marilyn Strathern adds theft, borrowing, sharing, belonging (rather than belongings), identification and self-realization. The issue of social personhood in relation to ownership and appropriation is prominently highlighted by Katie Glaskin, Nicholas Long, Tamara Kohn and Rosemary Coombe. Clearly a willingness to encompass subaltern and alternate forms presents a risk that recognizable concepts of ownership will simply dissolve.