Cheers!

Beer and wine have always been useful tools in cementing international friendships. When Karlsruhe representatives were in Nottingham in October 2009 for the 40th anniversary of the twinning link, the Castle Rock Brewery produced a special limited edition beer for the occasion. Here we see Karlsruhe's Oberburgermeister Heinz Fenrich being presented with a bottle.

Castle Rock is an excellent example of how a small brewery can survive and thrive through producing niche beers. Lots of these are now produced and have their own annual event in the Nottingham Robin Hood Beer Festival, organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and held at Nottingham Castle every October. In 2010 this should become an international event with beers from some of our twin cities and other countries.

Timisoara

Nottingham, Karlsruhe and Timisoara in Romania are all twinned with each other (triplets?). Timisoara has just held celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the end of the Ceaucescu regime in Romania, and Nottingham and Karlsruhe were both represented there. This is a gift we received there in commemoration of the revolution.

Timisoara was at the centre of the events that led to the end of Communist rule in Romania in 1989. For a very dramatic account, see the last few paragraphs here. Since then, the country has been gradually building its economy and after joining the EU a couple of years ago has been keen to build links with and gain expertise from older members. Nottingham is now involved in a partnership with Timisoara to help regenerate the city.

China and Silk

One of the relationships we've built up in Nottingham in recent years is with Ningbo in China. Chinese people place great importance on the exchange of gifts and since the sister city agreeement between Nottingham and Ningbo was signed every meeting has been marked by the exchange of small but culturally important items. One of the most significant trades over the centuries with China has been around silk and often the gift from a Chinese official or dignitary will be a silk tie, scarf or even pyjamas. Needless to say they are all beautiful items and represent a historic exchange that goes back into medieval (and possibly earlier) times. Nottingham has a more recent (but, sadly, now mainly historical) tradition of lace products, and these have often formed part of our gifts to the people of Ningbo. Recently some of our Museums officers met with Ningbo officials to discuss bringing an important exhibition to Nottingham on the Silk Routes and their cultural and historical significance and we hope to hold this at some point in the next couple of years.

Diplomatic Gifts

One of the most famous diplomatic gifts was the elephant 'Hanno', given to the Pope in the sixteenth century by the King of Portugal. Apparently, the Pope was extremely happy with the gift, but he had the resources to accept it (his own personal zoo)!

I'm not sure if this is where the term 'white elephant' comes from, to describe a gift which is both cumbersome and useless.

Eines der berühmtesten diplomatischen Geschenke war der Elefant 'Hanno', gegeben dem Papst im sechzehnten Jahrhundert durch den König Portugals. Anscheinend war der Papst mit dem Geschenk äußerst glücklich, aber er hatte die Mittel, es (sein eigener persönlicher Zoo) zu akzeptieren!
Ich bin nicht sicher, wenn das ist, wo die Frist 'weißer Elefant' herkommt, ein Geschenk zu beschreiben, das sowohl beschwerlich als auch nutzlos ist.

The Gift

In Marcel Mauss' most famous work, 'The Gift', he puts forward the idea that gifts are never 'free' but rather create a sense of obligation in the receiver: "What power resides in the object given that causes its recipient to pay it back?".

In Mauss' theory, the exchange of gifts is about constructing and maintaining social relationships. Is a 'gift' therefore a 'debt'? Must a gift always be returned? What are the invisible qualities connected to the gift (an obligation, a sense of well-being)?

What kind of gift is Robin Hood's stealing from the rich to give to the poor?

What kinds of exchange are taking place when people create and use open-source software?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source