Cosmological Authentication
Weiner states that certain objects become inalienable only when they have acquired "cosmological authentication"; that is,
What makes a possession inalienable is its exclusive and cumulative identity with a particular series of owners through time. Its history is authenticated by fictive or true genealogies, origin myths, sacred ancestors, and gods. In this way, inalienable possessions are transcendent treasures to be guarded against all the exigencies that might force their loss.
She gives the example of a Māori Sacred Cloak and says that when a woman wears it "she is more than herself - that she is her ancestors." Cloaks act as conduits for a person's hau or life giving spirit. The hau can bring strength or even knowledge potentially but a person may also have the risk of losing their hau. "An inalienable possession acts as a stabilizing force against change because its presence authenticates cosmological origins, kinship, and political histories." In this way, the Cloak actually stands for the person. "These possessions then are the most potent force in the effort to subvert change, while at the same time they stand as the corpus of change".
Paul Sillitoe queries the supposed identification of these objects with persons. He states that these objects are "durable wealth is collective property that is continually in circulation among persons who have temporary possession of it. In this view, transactable objects belong to society as a whole and are not inalienable possessions associated with certain persons. An analogy in Western culture is sporting trophies, such as championship boxing belts owned by all the clubs comprising the association that controls the competition in which constituent club members compete, and which pass for agreed periods of time into the possession of particular champions, changing hands as new champions emerge."
Theuws argues that "Over time, objects acquire new meanings and what was once a humble pot may become a sacred vessel." This transformation in the object is the result of ritualization or a change in cosmology. In fact, "Ritual Knowledge is often a source of political power."
However, these possessions may also become destabilizing, as elites reconstruct those sacred histories to identify themselves with the past; for example, Gandhi invoked the traditional hand spinning traditional cloth, khadi, to contest British rule, which Nehru referred to as Gandhi's "livery of freedom".
Read more about this topic: Inalienable Possessions