Between “Gifts” and “Commodities”: An Anthropological Approach to the Austrian Academic Field

This article focuses on social practices of the (re)production of academic knowledge at Austrian universities based on ethnographic research. It critically assesses aspects and ideas of exchange within academic work relationships from the perspective of social and cultural anthropology. This analysis takes two modes of conceptualising social practices that can also be seen as complimentary to one another into consideration. The first is the ‘purposeless’ social practice Marcel Mauss develops in his concept of the “exchange of the gift”. Secondly, I view social practice as being formed by interests and strategies, a thought based on Pierre Bourdieu’s work. Through linking these approaches and examining the transactions involved, I suggest that feminist anthropology not only contributes to discussions that aim to transcend opposing concepts of exchange in Western and nonwestern societies, but also particularly, reflect upon processes of (self-)deception. Furthermore, I demonstrate that due to hierarchical structures and gendering processes exchange remains, to a great extent, a non-reciprocal process for women scholars. Consequently, this article takes a close look at practices that promote women and women’s studies and intends to propose a counter-strategy to this ‘disrupted form of exchange’.