Hannah Appel

Hannah Appel's The Licit Life of Capitalism is about Big Oil's interventions in Equatorial Guinea. I checked the book out hoping to read more about Equatoguinean people, but the book maintains a focus on corporate ex-patriots, and how the country has been impacted by corruption.

The book is a thesis project and it reads as such. It is full of political and anthropological jargon which I'm sure is relevant in academic circles, but was not to me. Because I wanted more personal stories, I suppose I was not the intended audience.

Appel explores the confines of expat communities, the life of foreign workers on oil rigs, and corporate and government offices. While it is rife with corruption, the mention of how this impacts the common person is only statistical.

In the end, I'm sure Appel is right to condemn and publicize the just how bad Big Oil has been for Equatorial Guinea. She makes an excellent case using numbers from various NGO's and UN organizations. Unfortunately, as is the case with so many exposes of corruption, pollution, and capitalism, this theses project may be ignored by the business people invading the country and the politicians allowing themselves to be corrupted.… (mehr)