Cultural Performance in Politics

At an election rally in rural Mexico I once observed a political candidate and water user president, Nuñez, carefully serving plates with a local goat meat specialty to his prospective voters. This was one of these rare days in which you could find men in a kitchen in this part of Nayarit. With this dramatic act, Nuñez demonstrates he is serving the individual needs of his voters in a culturally appreciated manner. This short scene aptly illustrates the dramatic enactment of culturally significant acts as a central part of politics and management. I called this ‘cultural performance’ and later observed similar behavior in other places on the globe (Rap, 2017).