Vanishing Mediators: Enjoyment as a Political Factor in Western Mexico

Abstract

Anthropologists, historians, and political scientists have pointed to the pervasiveness of the cacique (political boss) as a habitual figure who, through his role as an intermediary, is instrumental in the reproduction of a structure of domination. In this article, I argue that the performative and imaginary aspects of caciquismo (political bossism) have been neglected in the analysis of structures of power. Going beyond the conventional view of the cacique as an effective intermediary, I argue that this figure often operates as a sort of vanishing mediator who both unveils and masks the absence of a center while standing for the corrupt and venal side of the state. Furthermore, it is through the orchestration of enjoyment and the image of excessive power that the cacique contributes to the reproduction of a particular mode of hegemony. I illustrate these performative and imaginary processes by drawing on an ethnography of a regional cacique involved in the power struggle of a local Water Users' Association in western Mexico. [Mexico, brokerage, caciquismo, ideology, hegemony, enjoyment, culture of power]

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