Lewis Hyde on Gift Economies & Cultural Commons

About this episode

Lewis Hyde discusses the power of gift-exchange and the protection of cultural commons.

Lewis Hyde, a celebrated scholar, essayist, literary critic and poet, wrote two classic books on aspects of the commons -- 'The Gift,' in 1979, about the power of gift-exchange in forging and maintaining social reciprocity, and 'Common as Air,' in 2010, about creativity as a force nourished by cultural commons. In this episode, Hyde discusses the origins of his striking perspectives on creativity as a gift that must be shared ("the gift must always move"), and the ways in which the US Founding Fathers sought to protect the free circulation and sharing of knowledge rather thane excessive private control through copyrights and patents. More more on the commons, visit www.Bollier.org. Credit for photo of Hyde: Anna Schuleit Haber For more on the commons, go to www.Bollier.org.

People in this episode

Host: David Bollier

Guest: Lewis Hyde

Topics covered

• gift economies
• cultural commons
• creativity
• social reciprocity
• knowledge sharing

Keywords

• gift economies
• cultural commons
• creativity
• social reciprocity
• knowledge sharing
• copyrights
• patents

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: US Founding Fathers, www.Bollier.org

Books & works: The Gift, Common as Air

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