Arjun Appadurai, AM'73, PhD'76 is the Samuel N. Harper professor in anthropology and in South Asian languages & civilizations and director of the Globalization Project. Appaduari is the author or several books, including The Social Life of Things (1986) and Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (1996). "Gift trapped" is adapted from the talk "Gifts in Contemporary Culture," which he gave as part of the Alumni Association Cityfront Forum last December.