Freshly Printed - allow 7 days lead
Couldn't load pickup availability
From Water to Wine
Becoming Middle Class in Angola
Jess Auerbach (Author)
9781487506414
Hardback, published 4 February 2020
256 pages, 2 photo essays
23.5 x 15.9 x 1.9 cm, 0.5 kg
"[I]t 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 [Auerbach] investigates how people prosper and find meaning under difficult conditions."
From Water to Wine explores how Angola has changed since the end of its civil war in 2002. Its focus is on the middle class—defined as those with a house, a car, and an education—and their consumption, aspirations, and hopes for their families. It takes as its starting point "what is working in Angola?" rather than "what is going wrong?" and makes a deliberate, political choice to give attention to beauty and happiness in everyday life in a country that has had an unusually troubled history. Each chapter focuses on one of the five senses, with the introduction and conclusion provoking reflection on proprioception (or kinesthesia) and curiosity. Various media are employed—poetry, recipes, photos, comics, and other textual experiments—to engage readers and their senses. Written for a broad audience, this text is an excellent addition to the study of Africa, the lusophone world, international development, sensory ethnography, and ethnographic writing.
List of Images Proprioception Introduction: Where Petrol Is Cheaper than Water: Life in Capitalismo selvagem The Back Story Interlude: A Brief History of Angola Smell 1. The Smell of Success: Perfume, Beauty, Sweat, Oil Read with Your Nose Interlude: Recording Fieldwork Notes Touch 2. Touch and the Tactile: The Textures of Scouting in Capitalismo selvagem Seeing through the Skin Interlude: Poems 1 Fatherhood Taste 3. Changing Tastes: Palates and the Possible Recipes Interlude: Photo Essay 1: The Flavors of Peace Interlude: Photo Essay 2: Choices and Consumption Sound 4. Music, Fofoca, and the News: Sound, Space, and Orientation Sound Readings: Spectrographs, Annotation, Language Interlude: Poems 2 Estrelinha (Little Star) Interlude: Photo Essay 3: Childhoods Interlude: Photo Essay 4: Leisure Sight 5. National Rebranding The Selfie and the Other Interlude: Photo Essay 5: Art Interlude: Photo Essay 6: Architecture Curiosity Conclusion: Attending the Beautiful in the Light of What We Know Capitalismo selvagem in Uncertain Times Notes
Acknowledgments
Interview Report
Preface
Representing "Africa"?
On Making Sense in the Writing
What the Book Is Actually About
How the Research Was Done
How to Read This Book
Core Concepts
Illustrated by Elinor Driver
Conditioning the Air: Space and Control
Class, Perfume, Dream: Aspiration and Authenticity
Objects
Structured Observations of Space
Making the Mafia
Stitching Pano Pants
Catching Slipping Children
Lighting the Fire as Service
Building the New Man
Choosing Appropriate T-Shirts
Practicing Peace
Radio Building
Seven Women
Buying Cloth
Fátima’s Mother, on Christmas Day 2013
The Cuban Help
The Driver
The Man Who Made Cake, Dona Maria, and the Sushi Chef
Oral Histories: The Stories of Two Lives
Cold War Echoes: Higher Education, Ideology, and Contested Duties
Birds on Campus
João, Collapsing
Dona Maria Serving Soup
Dona Inês
Two Photographers
Cinema Church
Yoga Teacher
National Rebranding: Guarantee Your Children a Better Past
Biopolitical Screens: Frames of Vision
Laughing on the Internet
Insta Lies or Insta Truths?
Fieldwork Ethics: Seven Afterimages
The Government Has Gone on Holiday, but Maybe João Lourenço Will Bring It Back
Practicing Peace ... Again
Indicative Bibliography
References
Index