Fragments of Legitimacy: Symbolic Constructions of Political Leadership in Twenty-First-Century Mali

Abstract: This article examines official constructions of political legitimacy since the introduction of multiparty democracy in Mali and asks how some segments of the population have responded to them. We argue that these constructions evolved in the context of three symbolic repertoires, symbolized by the rifle, the ballpoint pen, and prayer beads. In this process, politicians have mobilized repertoires in selective and changing ways, subject to continuous reformulation, bricolage, and rearticulation. We end with the proposition that the result of these constructions, a cross of the pen and the rifle repertoires favored by the military regime of Colonel Assimi Goita, high-lights the popularity of the imagery of military strongmanship in Mali—and in sub-Saharan Africa more widely.