Max Witt Anthro-183 3-19-10 Professor Mariane Ferme

AQCI 5
Central Quotation:
It may be a good thing that physical corpulence is a sign of a true chief, and from this point of view as well as the expression the politics of the belly carries a much richer symbolic meaning than its polemical connotation might at first suggest. In short, wealth is a potential sign of being at one with the forces of the cosmos (Bayart 1993:243) [Emphasis Added]

Argument:
There are two interrelated central arguments to this piece. The first is that corruption is largely an expression of social struggle by people seeking to accumulate wealth for themselves and their kin, thereby providing a Full Belly to those with whom they share blood ties. The second is that corruption occurs at every level of society and power, evoking the proverb, Goats eat where they are tethered. This accumulation of wealth is seen as vital to the success or strength of a person in a position of power.

Question:
Given that there is corruption on every level of society, how do these different levels interface with each other in the effort to accumulate?

Textual Connection and Implication:

One key connection to other texts is the issue of wealth relating to personal worth, and occult power. In most cases, the more someone accumulates, the higher the regard people hold for them. However, people dont merely see the amount of wealth a person possesses as the result of that individuals work. Beneath the wealth, and behind the person, are the forces of Witchcraft, which are seen to interact with every part of life. One example of this and its intertwining in politics is mentioned in The Modernity of Witchcraft. Pro- Government pamphlets often contain allusions to the vicious new forms of witchcraft that ostensibly are the real explanation for the economic prowess of entrepreneurs from the West and the Northwest. Opposition leaflets, in contrast, refer to the southerners fear of evu and its ferocious egalitarianism, which would explain why these elites, despite strong government support, fail miserably in business, so that they can only eat the state to satisfy their greedy kin. (Geschiere 1997:18) This excerpt raises several issues in relation to the original point in Politics of the Belly. It addresses the idea of Feeding ones kin with the public resources, through corruption, while at the same time,

elaborating to include the use of Witchcraft Accusations in politics. Of the multiple witchcraft accusations, one in particular relates perfectly with the argument. In order to discredit the successful economic entrepreneurs, government backers accuse those successful individuals of using witchcraft to gain their success. Since the assumption becomes that the witchcraft is the reason they are powerful, the worth of the physical, non occult, person is decreased.