This article revisits Arnold Van Gennep’s Rites de passage from the point of view of gift theory. Gifts emerge as quasi-omnipresent and in association with all sorts as well as all phases of rites of passage in Van Gennep’s text. However, he never explicitly addresses nor problematizes this pervasive connection between gifts and rites of passage. In contrast with Marcel Mauss’s later Essai sur le don, moreover, Rites de passage tends to relate to gift-exchange in either mere instrumental, economic terms, or as a rather simple and efficient, binding and “unifying” mechanism, while displaying none of Mauss’s complementary attentiveness to the agonistic as well as more complex and contradictory features of gift processes. Yet, precisely the ideas of margin and liminality for which Van Gennep’s became best known, but which did not seep at all into his own treatment of gifts, may be drawn upon to approach gift interactions as ritual processes, perhaps even rites of passage, with liminal phases and anti-structural features of their own kind. Such an angle of analysis happens to converge with current approaches to the gift that have underscored the part it may play in fraught dynamics of mutual definition and recognition in human interactions. It might also suggest new ways of interpreting the deep, recurrent association between gifts and rites of passage, which Rites de passage unwittingly contributed to highlight, but still needs to be further explored and conceptualized.

中文翻译：

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成人礼中的礼物还是成人礼中的礼物？站在 Van Gennep 和 Marcel Mauss 之间的门槛

本文从礼物理论的角度重新审视了 Arnold Van Gennep 的 Rites de pass。礼物作为准无所不在的礼物出现，并与范热内普文本中的各种以及所有阶段的成年礼相关联。然而，他从未明确解决或质疑礼物和成年仪式之间普遍存在的联系。此外，与马塞尔·莫斯后来的 Essai sur le don 形成鲜明对比的是，Rites de pass 倾向于仅以工具性的、经济的术语与礼物交换相关，或者作为一种相当简单有效的、具有约束力和“统一”的机制，同时没有表现出任何Mauss 对礼物过程的对抗性以及更复杂和矛盾的特征的补充关注。然而，正是 Van Gennep 最为人所知的边际和界限的思想，但这根本没有渗透到他自己对礼物的处理中，可能会被用来将礼物互动视为仪式过程，甚至可能是通过仪式，具有自己的界限阶段和反结构特征。这种分析角度恰好与当前对礼物的看法一致，这些方法强调了礼物在人类互动中相互定义和认可的充满活力的动态中可能发挥的作用。它还可能提出新的方法来解释礼物和通过仪式之间深刻、反复出现的关联，通过仪式在不知不觉中突出了这一点，但仍需要进一步探索和概念化。具有阈限阶段和自己类型的反结构特征。这种分析角度恰好与当前对礼物的看法一致，这些方法强调了礼物在人类互动中相互定义和认可的充满活力的动态中可能发挥的作用。它还可能提出新的方法来解释礼物和通过仪式之间深刻的、反复出现的关联，通过仪式在不知不觉中突出了这一点，但仍需要进一步探索和概念化。具有阈限阶段和自己类型的反结构特征。这种分析角度恰好与当前对礼物的看法一致，这些方法强调了礼物在人类互动中相互定义和认可的充满活力的动态中可能发挥的作用。它还可能提出新的方法来解释礼物和通过仪式之间深刻的、反复出现的关联，通过仪式在不知不觉中突出了这一点，但仍需要进一步探索和概念化。