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HERNÁNDEZ, Héctor Guerra. “Nuestros gobernantes están llenos de dinero”: Construcción de Alteridades y sentimientos de pertenencia en torno al dinero. El caso de los Magermanes en Mozambique. in: Vibrant – Virtual Brazilian Anthropology, v. 5, n. 2. July to December 2008. Brasília, ABA. Available at http://www.vibrant.org.br/issues/v5n2/hector-guerra-hernandez-nuestros-gobernantes-estan-llenos-de-dinero/

Abstract

To travel, to get dressed elegant, to show sophisticated sound devices, to offer gifts for the many girlfriends, to have access to consumer goods like refrigerators, television sets, motorcycles… Histories of success and material well-being predominate in the stories of the Mozambican that worked in the German Democratic Republic. Substantial part of the earn was transferred to Mozambique. The extinction of the GDR caused the accelerated return of the known ones as Magermane, nevertheless many were able to organize containers and transferred the accumulated material goods during their permanence in this country. It is more: they arrived economically “like rich” in a country disintegrated social and economically, and knocked down by a fratricide war. But their history continues. The transferred remittances “disappeared”. Nevertheless they “know” the whereabouts their money: bureaucrats of the Frelimo (the party in the power) would have become rich illicitly with this money; private banks would have been formed, luxury condominiums would have been constructed in Maputo, and thus ahead. This communication try to explore the senses of money into the history of a specific social group. About the memory from the wealth to the stories of an increasing and present poverty, the representations all around of the money are a decisive element of identity for the Magermane, orients them in their political actions and, mainly, it articulates his narratives about their supposed enemies.

Keywords: Mozambique, Money, Identity