Why, in the context of a rural Colombian mayoral election, do poor clients donate goods and services to political campaigns? The literature on clientelism describes it as a political order in which politicians exchange resources or favors for political support. In this article, I describe the clientelist relationships and exchanges in a 2019 rural Colombian mayoral election, including what I call pork belly politics, where poor clients also donate scarce resources—most notably crispy fried pork belly—to patrons. Based on eleven months of ethnographic and interview data from before, during, and after the campaign, I show that elections are a crucial time for the rural poor to position themselves vis-à-vis the future mayor. Further, I show that the practices I describe are simultaneously instrumental, calculated to guarantee their access to needed public resources for the four-year term, and moral, rooted in a broader political culture based on norms of reciprocity. I explain the three levels of clientelist relationships that emerge during campaigns, and the practices and expectations at play in each. These findings add new depth to our understanding of rural politics and poverty, client agency, and the moral and instrumental dimensions of clientelist exchanges.

中文翻译：

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五花肉政治：客户在哥伦比亚农村市长选举中向赞助人捐款的道德和工具原因

为什么在哥伦比亚农村市长选举的背景下，贫穷的客户会向政治运动捐赠商品和服务？关于侍奉主义的文献将其描述为一种政治秩序，在这种秩序中，政客们为了政治支持而交换资源或恩惠。在这篇文章中，我描述了 2019 年哥伦比亚农村市长选举中的客户关系和交流，包括我所说的五花肉政治，其中贫穷的客户也向赞助人捐赠稀缺资源——尤其是香脆的炸五花肉。根据竞选之前、期间和之后 11 个月的人种学和采访数据，我表明选举是农村贫困人口与未来市长相对立的关键时刻。此外，我表明我描述的实践同时是有用的，旨在保证他们在四年任期内获得所需的公共资源，并在道德上植根于基于互惠规范的更广泛的政治文化。我解释了竞选活动中出现的三个层次的客户关系，以及每个层次中的实践和期望。这些发现为我们对农村政治和贫困、客户代理以及客户交换的道德和工具维度的理解增加了新的深度。