Orgies of the Moment: Bataille's Anthropology of Transgression and the Defiance of Danger in Post-socialist Mozambique

Christian Groes-Green

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this article I explore socially marginalized young men's excessive acts of violence, drug use, death race and unsafe sex against the background of George Bataille's anthropology of transgression. When young men in the Mozambican capital engage in dangerous sex or violent riots, the findings indicate, it is less a sign of ignorance about HIV or indifference towards the rule of law than an expression of living in a 'state of emergency' where transgressive defiance of danger and death become attractive. Everyday transgressions of young men who call themselves moluwene (wild, unruly) are moulded in narratives and acts which at once oppose a smouldering socialist ideology of education and a neoliberal regime exiling marginalized young men from the realms of work and consumption to permanent unemployment, poverty and orgies of the moment.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAnthropological Theory
Volume10
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)385-407
Number of pages22
ISSN1463-4996
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Dec 2010

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