Working the System

Jon Schubert is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Leipzig.

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsA Note on Language, Names, and MoneyIntroduction1. 2002, Year Zero2. Sambizanga3. Angolanidade4. Cunhas5. A Culture of Immediatism6. Against the System, within the SystemConclusionEpilogueGlossary and AbbreviationsNotesReferencesIndex

Working the System is a great book. It holds the promise of its subtitle and offers a deep 'political ethnography of the new Angola'.... [It] skillfully keeps the balance between the sensitivity of an account at the first person and the reflexivity of an analysis in dialogue with a wide range of scholars. The result is that every encounter sounds both intimate and purposeful.... The capacity of this book to absorb the shock of fast-paced political transformation in Angola is certainly the best proof that it is worth not only being read but being read again!(Allegra Lab) Although the book is intended to be a political ethnography, it rapidly evolves into something more, becoming a vivid journey during which, anchored in the author's experience and mental map, the reader is masterfully taken through those "very real places" "where people live and die, and trade, shop, walk, love" (p. 54). Indeed, the novelty in Schubert's analysis of contemporary politics in Angola is that, through his enmeshed topdown/bottom-up approach, he masterfully connects people's memories, aspirations, and individual stories with the larger political history of the country(H-Luso-NET) This book is short and well written enough to use in courses in anthropology, sociology, international relations, and political science. It also serves as a great supplement to courses on urbanity and the city, contemporary Africa, comparative politics, and ethnography. At a time when few folks are doing real ethnography, along comes Working the System to refortify my belief that good ethnographic research and political ethnography are more important now than ever.(American Ethnologist) How do you explain the workings of a system where, ostensibly, there is no system? This is the central puzzle of Jon Schubert's highly relevant book on the 'New Angola.' The book is skillfully structured around key themes of everyday life that help to explain state-society relations in the capital.(Journal of Southern African Studies)