FIESTA FINANCE IN MESOAMERICA AND THE ORIGINS OF A GIFT EXCHANGE SYSTEM

The particular ethnographic cases through which the phenomenon of the gift was first defined, coupled with the evolutionary paradigm in whic h it was embedded, have limited our understanding of the nature and dy namics of gift exchange. By charting the emergence of a gift exchange system in the Mixtec-speaking town of Santiago Nuyoo over the last 135 years, this article discusses distinctive features of Mesoamerican gi fting and suggests a perspective that makes gift exchange a useful cat egory for historical analysis. It also examines the role of exchange i n the transformation of the Nuyoo system of fiesta sponsorship.