Abstract:

The paper explores the meaning a a 'share' and 'sharing-out' as concepts (relatively underdiscussed in economic anthropology), and as themes particularly salient and central to Ivatan social life and economy. What are shares? The evolution of the mataw shares system in Mahatao exposes changing and conflicting principles for contemporary shares distribution. As practiced by matawfishers in Batanes today, formal sharepartners, close associates, and persons sent by chance all have a place in the economy of arayu, the matawfisher's product, which moves in spheres of exchange and sharing in which money does not have a similar value. The value of arayu (dried fillets of dorado) lies both in creating community and in participating in the market. The paper explores the cultural logic of arayu production and circulation and extracts a model of 'shares' where relations of hunting and gathering 'procurement' and of capitalist 'production' are linked.

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