The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial Guinea
This thesis is about grassroots strategies of material and political extraversion. It is an ethnography of the provisioning of clothing goods in Equatorial Guinea and it bridges the everyday lives of ordinary people with issues related to political economy and power configurations. Based on more tha...
| Autor: | |
|---|---|
| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2017 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | CBUC, CESCA |
| Repositorio: | TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:www.tdx.cat:10803/586183 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10803/586183 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Antropologia econòmica Antropología económica Economic anthropology Consum (Economia) Consumo (Economía) Consumption (Economics) Mercats Mercados Markets Àfrica occidental África Occidental West Africa Guinea Equatorial Guinea Ecuatorial Equatorial Guinea Ciències Humanes i Socials 572 |
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The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial Guinea |
| title |
The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial Guinea |
| spellingShingle |
The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial Guinea Valenciano i Mañé, Alba Antropologia econòmica Antropología económica Economic anthropology Consum (Economia) Consumo (Economía) Consumption (Economics) Mercats Mercados Markets Àfrica occidental África Occidental West Africa Guinea Equatorial Guinea Ecuatorial Equatorial Guinea Ciències Humanes i Socials 572 |
| title_short |
The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial Guinea |
| title_full |
The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial Guinea |
| title_fullStr |
The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial Guinea |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial Guinea |
| title_sort |
The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial Guinea |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Valenciano i Mañé, Alba |
| author |
Valenciano i Mañé, Alba |
| author_facet |
Valenciano i Mañé, Alba |
| author_role |
author |
| dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Martí i Pérez, Josep, 1954- Larrea Killinger, Cristina Universitat de Barcelona. Departament d'Antropologia Cultural i Història d'Amèrica i d'Àfrica |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
Antropologia econòmica Antropología económica Economic anthropology Consum (Economia) Consumo (Economía) Consumption (Economics) Mercats Mercados Markets Àfrica occidental África Occidental West Africa Guinea Equatorial Guinea Ecuatorial Equatorial Guinea Ciències Humanes i Socials 572 |
| topic |
Antropologia econòmica Antropología económica Economic anthropology Consum (Economia) Consumo (Economía) Consumption (Economics) Mercats Mercados Markets Àfrica occidental África Occidental West Africa Guinea Equatorial Guinea Ecuatorial Equatorial Guinea Ciències Humanes i Socials 572 |
| description |
This thesis is about grassroots strategies of material and political extraversion. It is an ethnography of the provisioning of clothing goods in Equatorial Guinea and it bridges the everyday lives of ordinary people with issues related to political economy and power configurations. Based on more than twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork, mainly localised at Malabo’s principal marketplace but also complementarily carried out in Spain, it describes the strategies Guineans engage with in order to generate livelihoods but also to be able to make material statements about their self-worth in a context of uncertainty and precariousness. The exploitation of off-shore oil wells in the mid-nineties has provided an injection of resources to a regime that has been able to consolidate its power and an outside-oriented economy. While the extraversion strategies of the political elite are known and described in the political economic analyses of the country’s contemporary situation, studies about how ordinary Guineans deal and engage with this extravert system, an intended contribution of this thesis, are practically non-existent. The protagonists of my ethnography are market women, who have made from clothing provisioning both their source of livelihood and also their mechanism for social inclusion and political participation. The argument begins with a historical account, showing how rentist capitalism and extraversion strategies are not a recent phenomenon related to oil exploitation but have a longer trajectory in Equatorial Guinea. This process has signified the production of specific idioms for wealth and power that are deeply gendered and that make comment upon differential access to foreign rents and goods. These understandings of wealth and power are also associated with particular ideas about space that draw upon specific substantial and imagined geographies. These geographies are reproduced in the provisioning and valuation of foreign goods, but also by keeping trading routes and networks, which I describe for the two main categories of clothing goods consumed in Equatorial Guinea. By accessing valuable geographies and managing rents, market women manage to contest gender roles, reach certain levels of public participation and generate political debates. This participation, however, is co- opted by the elite and more specifically by the first lady who, through a non-profit organisation, offers her protection to female petty traders in exchange for political support. The ethnography of the everyday of these women reveals how, by engaging with rent managing strategies and by connecting with the powerful elite market, women are able to source their households. However, their capacity to generate income, to make political claims, and to gain access to certain levels of power is limited by a hierarchy that is ultimately maintained by such extraversion strategies. The dissertation contributes to debates within economic and political anthropology surrounding rentist capitalism and extraversion, but also about markets and consumption. While it questions extraversion as totalizing theory, and as a particularity of African states and elites, it recovers it as a concept useful to explain processes of active material and political dependency. |
| publishDate |
2017 |
| dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2017 2018 2018 |
| dc.type.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
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doctoralThesis |
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publishedVersion |
| dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10803/586183 |
| url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10803/586183 |
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Inglés |
| language_invalid_str_mv |
Inglés |
| dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
| dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
305 p. application/pdf application/pdf |
| dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Universitat de Barcelona |
| publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Universitat de Barcelona |
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TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa) reponame:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red instname:CBUC, CESCA |
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CBUC, CESCA |
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TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
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TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Red |
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1869407440585359360 |
| spelling |
The Clothes of Extraversion. Circulation, Consumption and Power in Equatorial GuineaValenciano i Mañé, AlbaAntropologia econòmicaAntropología económicaEconomic anthropologyConsum (Economia)Consumo (Economía)Consumption (Economics)MercatsMercadosMarketsÀfrica occidentalÁfrica OccidentalWest AfricaGuinea EquatorialGuinea EcuatorialEquatorial GuineaCiències Humanes i Socials572This thesis is about grassroots strategies of material and political extraversion. It is an ethnography of the provisioning of clothing goods in Equatorial Guinea and it bridges the everyday lives of ordinary people with issues related to political economy and power configurations. Based on more than twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork, mainly localised at Malabo’s principal marketplace but also complementarily carried out in Spain, it describes the strategies Guineans engage with in order to generate livelihoods but also to be able to make material statements about their self-worth in a context of uncertainty and precariousness. The exploitation of off-shore oil wells in the mid-nineties has provided an injection of resources to a regime that has been able to consolidate its power and an outside-oriented economy. While the extraversion strategies of the political elite are known and described in the political economic analyses of the country’s contemporary situation, studies about how ordinary Guineans deal and engage with this extravert system, an intended contribution of this thesis, are practically non-existent. The protagonists of my ethnography are market women, who have made from clothing provisioning both their source of livelihood and also their mechanism for social inclusion and political participation. The argument begins with a historical account, showing how rentist capitalism and extraversion strategies are not a recent phenomenon related to oil exploitation but have a longer trajectory in Equatorial Guinea. This process has signified the production of specific idioms for wealth and power that are deeply gendered and that make comment upon differential access to foreign rents and goods. These understandings of wealth and power are also associated with particular ideas about space that draw upon specific substantial and imagined geographies. These geographies are reproduced in the provisioning and valuation of foreign goods, but also by keeping trading routes and networks, which I describe for the two main categories of clothing goods consumed in Equatorial Guinea. By accessing valuable geographies and managing rents, market women manage to contest gender roles, reach certain levels of public participation and generate political debates. This participation, however, is co- opted by the elite and more specifically by the first lady who, through a non-profit organisation, offers her protection to female petty traders in exchange for political support. The ethnography of the everyday of these women reveals how, by engaging with rent managing strategies and by connecting with the powerful elite market, women are able to source their households. However, their capacity to generate income, to make political claims, and to gain access to certain levels of power is limited by a hierarchy that is ultimately maintained by such extraversion strategies. The dissertation contributes to debates within economic and political anthropology surrounding rentist capitalism and extraversion, but also about markets and consumption. While it questions extraversion as totalizing theory, and as a particularity of African states and elites, it recovers it as a concept useful to explain processes of active material and political dependency.Esta tesis presenta una etnografía del aprovisionamiento de productos textiles en Guinea Ecuatorial, vincula la vida cotidiana de la gente común con cuestiones relacionadas con la economía política y las configuraciones de poder. Basada en más de doce meses de trabajo de campo etnográfico localizado en el mercado principal de Malabo, pero también complementario en España (Madrid y Elche), describe estrategias ingeniadas por las guineanas para generar medios de vida, pero también para hacer declaraciones materiales sobre su valía personal en un contexto de incertidumbre y precariedad. La explotación de pozos petrolíferos off-shore a mediados de los noventa ha proporcionado una inyección de recursos a un régimen que ha podido consolidar su poder y una economía orientada hacia el exterior. Mientras que las estrategias de extraversión de la élite política son conocidas y descritas en los análisis político-económicos de la situación contemporánea del país, prácticamente no existen estudios sobre cómo las guineanas corrientes se relacionan con este sistema extravertido. Las protagonistas de mi etnografía son las mujeres del mercado, que han hecho de la provisión de ropa su fuente de sustento, pero también su mecanismo para la inclusión social y la participación política. El argumento comienza con un relato histórico que muestra cómo el capitalismo y las estrategias de extraversión rentistas no son un fenómeno reciente relacionado con la explotación petrolera sino que tienen una trayectoria más larga en Guinea Ecuatorial. Este recorrido histórico ha generado ideas particulares sobre el poder y la riqueza que tienen un componente de género importante y que dibujan unas geografías tanto imaginadas como sustanciales. Estas geografías se reproducen en el aprovisionamiento y valoración de mercancías extranjeras, pero también mediante el mantenimiento de rutas y redes comerciales, que describo para las dos principales categorías de artículos de prendas de vestir consumidos en Guinea Ecuatorial. Al acceder a geografías valiosas y gestionar rentas, las mujeres del mercado logran impugnar los papeles de género, alcanzar ciertos niveles de participación pública y generar debates políticos. Esta participación, sin embargo, es cooptada por la élite y más específicamente por la primera dama que, a través de una organización sin fines de lucro, ofrece su protección a las pequeñas comerciantes a cambio de apoyo político. La etnografía de la vida cotidiana de estas mujeres revela cómo al comprometerse con las estrategias de gestión de rentas y al conectarse con la poderosa élite las mujeres son capaces de abastecer a sus hogares. Sin embargo, su capacidad para generar ingresos, hacer reivindicaciones políticas y acceder a ciertas cotas de poder está limitada por una jerarquía que las estrategias de extraversión sólo ayudan a mantener. La tesis contribuye a los debates de antropología económica y política sobre el capitalismo y la extraversión rentistas, pero también sobre los mercados y el consumo. Si bien cuestiona la extraversión como teoría totalizadora y como particularidad de los estados y élites africanos, la recupera como un concepto útil para explicar los procesos de dependencia política y material.Universitat de BarcelonaMartí i Pérez, Josep, 1954-Larrea Killinger, CristinaUniversitat de Barcelona. Departament d'Antropologia Cultural i Història d'Amèrica i d'Àfrica201820182017info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion305 p.application/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10803/586183TDX (Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa)reponame:TDR. Tesis Doctorales en Redinstname:CBUC, CESCAInglésL'accés als continguts d'aquesta tesi queda condicionat a l'acceptació de les condicions d'ús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:www.tdx.cat:10803/5861832026-06-14T12:46:07Z |
| score |
15,300719 |