Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: May 18, 2021 at 6:52:10 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Luso-Africa]: Gastrow on Auerbach, 'From Water to > Wine: Becoming Middle Class in Angola' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Jess Auerbach. From Water to Wine: Becoming Middle Class in Angola. > Toronto University of Toronto Press, 2020. xxiv + 230 pp. $27.95 > (paper), ISBN 978-1-4875-2433-3. > > Reviewed by Claudia Gastrow (University of Johannesburg) > Published on H-Luso-Africa (May, 2021) > Commissioned by Philip J. Havik > > This recent book on the middle class in Angola is bound to cause > controversy among those who conduct research on the country, namely > because it does the almost inconceivable: it attempts to sidestep > politics. Frustrated with what she views as negative representations > of Angola and the continent, Auerbach severs the everyday from > Angola's difficult and contested political realm, instead explicitly > exploring her interlocuters' worlds through the lens of "what is > working," as the author puts it (p. 5). She thus tries to focus on > moments of success, joy, and achievement rather than obstacles and > frustrations. The author takes a risk by excluding politics and the > result is mixed. On the one hand, it is refreshing to get insight > into actors, stories, and institutions generally ignored by most > scholars, who are more interested in the state, politics, corruption, > and exclusion than in seeking out new narratives and framings of > Angola. The result is an absorbing account of everyday life as she > investigates how people prosper and find meaning under difficult > conditions. The focus on the middle class is also original for > studies of Angola and provides a unique entryway into everyday life > in the country. Although there has been a growing literature on the > middle class in Africa,[1] the topic has remained relatively > unexplored in Angola.[2] However, by ignoring politics, the account > partially fails to account for the rise of the very group it is > studying--the middle class, whose presence in Angola has historically > been not only tightly tied to the state as a source of employment and > patronage, but also strongly shaped by the political and economic > vicissitudes of the time. Signs of people's lives being heavily > impacted by Angola's broader political and economic context > (including the author's) are only briefly explored, sometimes to the > detriment of the analysis. > > The primary aim of the book is arguably to teach undergraduates about > ethnography and its quandaries rather than to present an in-depth > analysis of contemporary Angolan society. The book is part of series > from the University of Toronto Press that focuses on teaching > ethnography and from this perspective it is extremely successful. > Aiming at providing a means for students to understand how research > is conducted, ranging from organizing fieldnotes and interviews to > different kinds of research techniques and ethical considerations, > the author divides the book into five primary chapters (excluding the > introduction and conclusion), each of which is centered around a > different human sense. Chapter 1 is about smell and investigates > urban smells, perfume, and human body odor as ethnographic objects. > The next chapter, on touch, seeds itself in a study of scouting in > Angola, following how young people carve out community in the context > of rampant petro-capitalism. Chapter 3 looks at taste and uses the > life stories of restaurant owners and fashion designers to explore > the manifold meanings of this term. Chapter 4, shaped around sound, > provides an account of university education in the aftermath of the > Cold War and the rise of the country's economic fortunes in the > 2000s. Chapter 5 uses social media, and the representation of Angola > to Angolans and the international community, to think through > questions of sight and vision in anthropology, both as analytical > terms and in regard to the visibility and positionality of the > ethnographer. Each chapter jogs the reader to think about how one > conducts research in relation to that particular sense and provides > different ways to create ethnographies and represent people and > places by making use of images, cartoons, recipes, and poetry, among > other things, to indicate alternative ways of writing. > > In terms of work about Angola, the strongest chapters are those on > the scouting movement and on university education. These provide > insight into institutions and organizations generally bypassed by > other scholars. The chapter on universities is particularly helpful > in thinking through the politicization of university campuses > alongside the genuine drive from administrators, academics, and > students to build a successful tertiary-level education sector in the > country. The chapter on scouting challenges the reader to consider > what major organizations have been bypassed in the canonical > literature's approach to Angola, which has not only been dominated by > studies largely based in Luanda (although this is rapidly changing) > but tends to focus on a limited number of institutions and actors as > relevant to the country's politics and social make-up. Hopefully > there will be more studies undertaken in these kinds of directions > that can push the limits of existing research to focus more on a more > diverse array of actors and locations. > > Despite the novel insights of these chapters, however, it is not > clear that the author really provides a strong sense of "middle > classness" in the book, nor of "what is working," even as she chooses > to describe the more positive aspects of life in Angola. This is > partially because there is a gap between an incredibly rich and > captivating ethnography and her analysis. The author, for instance, > early on states that her interlocutors described someone as middle > class if they had "a house, a car, and an education" (p. 15). The > book, however, does not really extrapolate further on these three > facets of class-making. While she discusses working in a school > teaching music and has, as mentioned, a strong chapter on > universities in the country, she does not directly explain how these > contribute to the project of class-making and practices of boundary > maintenance. The reader can surmise that more education means class > mobility, and it is highlighted that the school emerged in relation > to the demand for good education from an emerging urban middle class, > but the analytic significance of these ethnographic statements is not > pushed as far as it could potentially go. Again, this is most likely > because the primary audience of the book--undergraduates--is expected > to be diving into ethnography rather than lofty theory, but a clear > analytic thread about the middle class rather than simply a short > summary of the literature on the topic at the beginning of the book > might have enabled a stronger argument about what makes someone > middle class to emerge. > > Perhaps the most controversial element of the book, however, will be > the extent to which readers feel that the author's focus on a more > positive representation of the country has been at the cost of an > adequate historicization and political understanding of Angola. The > key texts that have elegantly described the political system that > emerged in Angola post independence are tellingly, with the exception > of Ricardo Soares de Oliveira's book, not cited at all. Most notably, > there are no references to Christine Messiant or Jean-Michel > Mabeko-Tali's canonical studies. Arguably, if one ignores Angola's > political economy and its history, one is missing a lot of the > context that would enable a convincing analysis of information that > was gathered during fieldwork. There are also many instances where, > in trying to keep politics outside the frame, the author seems to > problematically gloss over certain issues and events. Two examples of > this from early on in the book are in the chapter on Angola's > history, undertaken in the form of a graphic novel in which a scout > leader is telling the younger scouts about the country's history. In > one section, when discussing the end of the civil war, the narrator > states, "Zedú became known as the 'architect of peace' because he > made a plan to turn Luanda into Africa's Dubai!" (p. 28). This > statement is simply incorrect, as work by scholars such as Gilson > Lázaro has shown the origins of the term in the late years of the > war as a tool of anti-Savimbi propaganda, and it glibly ignores the > term's use in the postwar era as a means of politically positioning > Dos Santos as the source of peace and prosperity. It also disregards > the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of urban residents > during the period of postconflict reconstruction. Similarly, in > discussing the (lack) of political freedoms in Angola, the scout > leader states: "It wasn't always possible to speak freely, like in > the case of the 15+2 but that is a story for another day" (p. 29). > This statement papers over one of the most contentious events of the > late Dos Santos era: a show trial in which fifteen young men and two > women were accused, based on fabricated evidence, of trying to > overthrow the regime merely for daring _to read_ about peaceful > revolution. One of the accused, Luaty Beirão, came close to death > during a thirty-six-day hunger strike, and supporters who came to > witness or protest the trial were sometimes arrested, beaten, or > manhandled outside the court. To say this story is "for another day" > might very well be what a scout leader in Angola would say given the > political climate in the country, but surely undergraduate readers > need to be better informed? The scout leader's very statement > illustrates that all is not well in the country. Angola's political > challenges come up all the time as people tell the author of needing > to be members of the ruling party, of having to be involved > "trafficking influence" (p. 20) to get what they want and provide > examples of freedom of speech being curtailed within the scouting > movement. Surely this is not reflective of 'things working'. > > Ultimately this book does not really show us "what works," or provide > a detailed analysis of the country's emerging (and precarious) middle > class. What it does do--and does brilliantly--is show, using > captivating ethnography, how people forge lives and futures under > adverse circumstances. In the last decade, there has been a tendency > in much anthropological literature about the African continent to > portray it as a space where futures are curtailed, where people are > caught in interminable cycles of hustling, and most believe the only > real possibilities of living satisfying lives lie in leaving. This > book pushes against this. We hear from ordinary people who have > forged fulfilling lives and find contentment in what they do. People > who build relationships, fall in love, invest in their children, and > continue to build their lives and believe in possibilities. The book > thus successfully does what I believe is actually its central > goal--to push against a tendency to represent the continent as a lost > cause as well as the effacement of ordinary people's lives in the > name of abstract academic theoretical innovation. It successfully > makes the reader confront the difficulties of representation, ethical > and competent fieldwork, and knowledge production and it does this > through a well-documented and beautifully written ethnography. Will > this book become a canonical work about class formation in Angola? I > am not sure. Its depoliticization of ethnography is questionable. > However, I would certainly assign it for undergraduate courses about > methods, writing about the continent, and, more specifically, Angola. > Its strengths lie in its accessibility, innovative approaches, and > honesty, but also in its gaps and elisions. If read next to more > established canonical work on Angola, these very gaps are what would > be bound to generate exactly the kinds of critical thought and > questions one would hope should emerge from an undergraduate seminar, > while also teaching students how to be better researchers. > > <p>Notes > > [1]. Deborah James, _Money from Nothing: Indebtedness and Aspiration > in South Africa_ (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2014); Henning > Melber, ed., _The Rise of Africa's Middle Class: Myths, Realities and > Critical Engagements_ (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2017); > Roger Southall, _The New Black Middle Class in Africa_ (Johannesburg: > Jacana, 2015); and Jason Sumich, _The Middle Class in Mozambique: The > State and the Politics of Transformation in Southern Africa_ > (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018). > > [2]. Exceptions include Chloé Buire, "The Dream and the Ordinary: An > Ethnographic Investigation of Suburbanisation in Luanda," _African > Studies_ 73, no. 2 (2014): 290-312; Jon Schubert, "Emerging > Middle-Class Subjectivities in Post-War Angola," in _The Rise of > Africa's Middle Class,_ 147-58; and Claudia Gastrow, "Housing > Middle-Classness: Formality and the Making of Distinction in Luanda," > _Africa_ 90, no. 3 (2020): 509-28. > > Citation: Claudia Gastrow. Review of Auerbach, Jess, _From Water to > Wine: Becoming Middle Class in Angola_. H-Luso-Africa, H-Net Reviews. > May, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56413 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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