Humans of Giftculture is an attempt to share stories of communities and people who embraced the values of Gift Economy.
Episode 1- Features Hameem Muhammed, one of the Co-creators of The Gulmohar Foundation.
Anything material and immaterial can be held as a gift. Something that inspires the soul, and moves human beings. These include talents, and inspirations, which can benefit society as a whole. Goods and services are given freely out of the willingness of the donor without the promise of a reward or return. A Gift Economy is a form of exchange, outside of traditional economic markets, where goods and services are given freely without monetary exchange or expectations of a return or reward. A gift economy challenges conventional economics which assumes individuals are utility maximisers based on observable monetary gain. One thing that gifts do is that they create ties among people — which is different from a financial transaction.
If I buy something from you, I give you the money and you give me the thing, and we have no more relationship after that. I don’t owe you anything, you don’t owe me anything. The transaction is finished. But if you give me something, that’s different because now I kind of feel like I owe you one. It could be a feeling of obligation, or you could say it’s a feeling of gratitude.