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Seeing is believing: Symbolic politics and the opportunities of non‐democratic transition in Angola
Author(s) -
SCHUBERT JON
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
anthropology today
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1467-8322
pISSN - 0268-540X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8322.12421
Subject(s) - democracy , optimism , power (physics) , politics , symbolic capital , population , the symbolic , capital (architecture) , political economy , sociology , political science , law , economic history , history , social science , demography , psychology , social psychology , ancient history , psychoanalysis , quantum mechanics , physics
Following the resignation of President José Eduardo dos Santos after 38 years in power, the August 2017 elections in Angola were peaceful, yet had questionable results and returned the ruling party, the MPLA (The Popular Liberation Movement of Angola) to power. However, in his first three months in office, the new president, João Lourenço, has proceeded to make some high‐profile reshuffles and symbolic actions that have induced a palpable sense of optimism in the broader population, which seemed hardly warranted before the elections. This article reassesses the outcome of the elections from an Angolan perspective, based on fieldwork carried out in the capital, Luanda, and the northern province of Uíge, shortly after the polls. By examining how certain actions become symbols and what those symbols enable among Angolan citizens, the article discusses the weight of symbolic politics and the opportunities for change under conditions that fall short of formal standards of the democratic process.