From Water to Wine: Becoming Middle Class in Angola

This week we start reading: From Water to Wine: Becoming Middle Class in Angola (pp 1-84). Obviously, the
book takes us from the US-Mexico border to Angola in South Africa, where we sense traces of the US
influence to a certain extent. Anyway, the new face of anthropology, Auerbach, takes a fascinating look at the
Angolan middle class using a very unique approach.
One of the objectives of Auerbach is to flatten and “trip you to of your eyes” (p. 6). What does flatten mean in
this context? So far, did she succeed in challenging the “danger of a single story”? In other words, how did she
poke holes in the homogenizing understanding of Angola in particular and Africa in general?
A few ethnographic books talk about the middle-class in Africa. How did Auerbach define the middle class?
Clearly, the definition of “middle class” can vary wildly. It’s very subjective as much as it’s objective. In the
United States, for example, there is no agreed definition of the middle-class. It’s defined by certain attributes
such as working hard, living in the suburbs, taking one or two vacations a year, etc. For others, it means
earning a substantial salary but not so much that you’d be considered rich. Given the fuzziness of the criteria,
many researchers believe that far more Americans consider themselves middle-class than technically qualify
based on income. How is the Angolan experience different from and similar to the US? What is capitalism
selvagem?
Onto the specific topic of smell and class in Angola. How did the author make use of smell to understand the
Angolan middle class? How does smell define even limit (Insert the story of Anibal here ) a person’s economic
status? What is your experience with smell in the United States? Can you tell the class status of a person with
the perfume they were? Are there fragrances that remind you of wealthy men and women? What effects do
differences in culture and lifestyle have upon the perception and generation of odors? Drawing on the story of
Anibal, it’s easy to compliment someone for their good perfume. Have you ever told your friends they smell…?
Culturally, what’s the best way to do it? Anecdotes are welcome here.
If you are fascinated by methodology–particularly how Auerbach protects her informants from scrutiny, you
may focus on that aspect as the core of your original post. How did she make sure that her data was verifiable,
believable, and reliable? Why was Auerbach so concerned about the veracity of her data that she has to
provide so much information about how she collected her data? Jess Auerbach stated, “There is no fake news,
but history moves: by all means-fact check it” (p. xxii). You may compare her documentation with De Leo