About Systems of Exchange

On the Mimetic Nature (and Perils) of Gift-Giving

“The Census at Bethlehem” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Look closely and see if you can spot someone important. Who is mimetic and who is anti-mimetic in this scene? In many classic paintings of the nativity, you’ll find people looking at all the wrong things. It’s worth asking why the shepherds were different…

I’m writing this week’s edition of the Anti-Mimetic Newsletter near the end of a challenging 2020, a few days before Christmas. I hope this holiday season—whichever you celebrate—will be a time for you and your loved ones to have a respite from some of the anxiety in the world.

As for me, I’ll miss being with extended family, the trumpets blowing at Midnight Mass, and our tradition of going to a matinee movie at the theater on Christmas Day. This holiday is already proving itself to be a time of grace for me, though. A small, quiet Christmas is a reflection of the first Christmas. And Claire and I are planning a Feast of the Seven Fishes for two (rather than twenty)—which means m…