Tokens of Resentment: Medieval Arabic Narratives about Gift Exchange and Social Conflict

Abstract

Stories about gift exchange can confirm individual relationships and communal bonds, but they can also articulate social conflict. This analysis focuses primarily on stories in the first of two extant monographic compilations on gift exchange, the tenth-century Book of Rarities and Gifts by the Khālidiyyān, and concludes with a story from the anonymous eleventh-century Book of Treasures and Rarities. It explores expressions of social conflict through the features of rhetorical focal points, silence, communication at a distance, and the incongruity between fine gifts and tense situations. The discussion examines social conflict by following the development of main characters in other stories. These features of gift exchange stories suggest an interest in emotional experience, and the relationships among different stories about the same person imply an interest in character development. The pleasant practice of gift exchange offers a counterpoint to and a commentary on social conflicts.