ABSTRACT
The most important network of gift exchange in Beck’s diary is the family network. This applied both to his own gift exchange behaviour and the exchanges between others he described. Most ritual occasions were celebrated within the family and daily gifts were mostly exchanged within the family network as well. Furthermore, an analysis of the gift types and the networks in which they were exchanged showed that the family was the most common network of exchange for all but two types of gifts, being poetry and money. Hospitality, support, food and drink, and objects were all most frequently exchanged within the family network, whilst gifts like poems and money were more frequently exchanged within Beck’s professional network.
