Big men

Here is something to listen to while you read. It also has some pretty cool Rastafarian-type pictures.


So, reading the Rastafarian book, the author mentioned Charisma and its effects quite a lot. I got to wondering, in many non-state societies there are people (usually men) who hold high prestige and have political power over several villages because they are considered 'big men'. It seems that one would want to be a 'big man' and have people look up to and respect you, however, a big man has nothing but prestige. He has no way to back his will other than with his charisma, also, in order to become a 'big man' one has to: give many gifts to people (to demonstrate wealth and generosity), do much work to show a good example (for, by showing what should be done by example, perhaps others will join in.) one also has to be continually trying to improve ones status and competing against others who also want to be 'big men'. Is this all really worth it? What benefits come out of being prestigious? Is it worth the sacrifices and work? True, one can try to influence other people, but to what end? I suppose the biggest reason for wanting to be influential is that one believes something needs to be changed or maintained and one wants to facilitate that. In the Rastafairan book, many of the leaders that were mentioned had something they wanted to accomplish, and to do so they needed more than just themselves. So to conclude, being a 'big man' is alot of work, but if one truly wants to change things, one will need to work hard and probably die tired, but they will have accomplished something they believed in.