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Paper short abstract:

Ideological egalitarianism in the Moroccan High Atlas is predicated on psychic autonomy. This generates widespread mistrust. The shadow-figure haunting this landscape is the thief (amkhar), who steals not only property, but also information about others, thus threatening their autonomy.

Paper long abstract:

As I have argued in extenso elsewhere, ideological egalitarianism in the High Atlas is predicated on the idea that other people have a right to practical and psychic autonomy - viz. they are supposed to be inscrutable as regards their motives, thoughts and personality traits. The upshot of this is that they are rarely supposed to be trustworthy. This generalised economy of mistrust often focuses on the figure of the thief (amkhar). The term is used not only to describe thieves of physical goods, but also anybody who obtains information by cunning or subterfuge. Extracting such information from others threatens their psychic autonomy and so potentially undermines the conditions of equality.

The thief, however, is not so simply pigeon-holed. The qualities of trickery or guile he demonstrates are also classically weapons of the weak and are lauded when deployed against more powerful social actors. This is best demonstrated by local folktales, whose classic (anti-)hero is the hedgehog, most cunning of animals and thief par excellence. This paper explores the ambivalence of both thief and guile and the boundary-work they perform in maintaining an idea of equality.