Money and masohi; An anthropological review of copra commodity management

In discussions on exchange, money is often seen as a medium of exchange and a universal equivalent in the circulation of commodities, as well as an object in gift exchange. Yet, in the case of the management of copra that we researched on the island of Seram, money becomes a factor in shaping a dynamic of gift continuity and transformation in the realm of the copra economy (in this context of masohi custom). It is money that promotes both the use and erosion of masohi custom. Masohi is a tradition of community work on the island of Seram and is based on non-capitalist social relations and the principal of reciprocal exchange. This article seeks to describe how money,originally a capitalist medium, serves to simultaneously preserve and transform masohi custom, which, at its essence, is a non-capitalist institution.