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Leadership in the Vice Lords Vice Lords? define a Leader as a person who has followers. To a person outside the world of the fighting clubs, this may seem overly simplistic, but what defines one as a Leader or Follower is self-evident only to the Vice Lords. There are several reasons for this.
Leadership is highly contextualized- that is, there are few contexts when an individual" s identity as Leader emerges. Further, the same person may assume identities of both Leader and Follower at different times. A leader is one who exercises power. The exercise of leadership is thus the exercise of power. Among Vice Lords a person is recognised as a Leader when he has the ability to get others to do his will.
Among Vice Lords, however, power is not based on force. A Leader exercises power through what we call influence. Vice Lords follow others because they like them, or respect them, or because they think they will gain something by doing so, but not because they fear them. The positions of Leader and Follower are interchangeable; a leader in one context can be a follower in another. Some Vice Lords who are considered Leaders sometimes assume Follower identities in certain situations. There is a formal hierarchy of leadership positions that partially accounts for this.
There are two kinds of contexts in which power is exerted. ? The first kind includes situations that demand physical action. Some obvious examples are: gangbang ing, wolf packing, and hustling. The second kind of context in which leadership identities are relevant are those defined by public decision making. Some decisions which affect the club are made during discussions between Vice Lords while hanging on a corner or in an alley. Usually, however, public decision-making takes place during club meetings.
The strength of an individuals" power is subject to constant fluctuation. Power is based on the number of one" s followers, but a Leader" s following is constantly changing, and the exact extent of a person" s power is not usually known. ? Trobrianders In the minds of the Trobrainders, the myth stories recount the actions of real people who made decisions that continue to affect that affairs of each successive generation. Among all the ancestors who established matrilineages, only some of them came to Kiriwina with extensive food taboos and certain body shell decorations; these, from the beginning, ranked them as chiefly lineages, and separated them from the commoner matrilineages, whose ancestors came without these elaborate sumptuary rules (that is, rules about foods and decorations that are permitted or prohibited). In the case of chiefly lineages, however, those who came with them as commoners worked for them by raising their pigs and growing betel nuts and coconut palm trees. From time to time, the chiefs rewarded them with stone axe-blades or shell valuables.
Today, these obligations continue, so whenever the Omarakana Table chiefs need pork, coconuts, or betel nuts for a feast, they send a message to the men whose ancestors came with their ancestors from the same place of origin. What the origin stories make clear is that rivalry among chiefs always was a fact of life and that weaknesses are tested as one chief strives for an advantage over another. Chiefly decorations validate one" s authority to claim the ranking brought on by one" s ancestors; therefore, it is no surprise that competition between chiefly matrilineages often is expressed over these " kingly" regalia. Not only does a chief" s presence carry an aura of defence and fear, but even the hamlet of a chief represents a place of danger to those who are members of commoner lineages. A chief must work not only to solidify his arena of power and status but also to protect and prevent other chiefs from destroying or diminishing his ancestral heritage. Historically, individual chiefs created differences in the ongoing political status of a lineage.
A person" s right to sit higher than the rest comes from his birth and the authority brought by his ancestors. How many people will actually sit under him comes from the authority he himself is able to summon. By authority, Weiner means the right to claim legitimacy that is acknowledged by the members of the society. Although a hamlet leader controls the matrilineage" s property, he must also try to retain some direction over the affairs of those members who live elsewhere. It is a leader" s hard work and managerial skills rather than the actual make-up of the hamlet that ultimately gives rise to his power. The power of a Trobriand chief is localised, only spreading out into other hamlets and villages through individual matrilineages, which either have a woman member married to the chief or whose ancestors came from the same place of origin.
In villages without chiefs, a primary goal for each hamlet leader is to establish and maintain alliances between hamlets within the village, so that a hamlet leader can depend on some of the other village men for support. A chief, however, tries to expand his links further by creating support with hamlet leaders in many different villages. Polygyny enables a chief to enhance his economic situation, as a chief with many wives receives annual harvest yams from the matrilineal kin of each one. Chiefs are not first among equals, there is a distinct permanent division between lineages. There is another dimension to the power of a chief.
The regalia of rank is underwritten by the exercise of authority that controls the seemingly uncontrollable. Important chiefs must demonstrate that they know formidable kinds of magic spells that successfully give them control over villager" s lives and the growing cycle of yams. The spells that are most talked about because they are so dangerous are those for sorcery and those that control the weather. These traditional spells are the property of certain matrilineages and known only by a few men. Not all chiefs own sorcery spells, but since they usually have more wealth than ordinary men, they can pay those who know the magic to accomplish their wishes.
The power that chiefs have through their knowledge of sorcery breeds fear in others. Opposition to a chief or participation in such incidents as keeping a long yam rather than giving it to the chief or worse, being suspected of adultery with a chief" s wife, stay in the minds of those involved, making them fear the future. Sudden sickness or death points a finger at the mistakes made or rules broken, making clear the price to be paid for autonomous behaviour. Although chiefs walk with the authority that control over sorcery gives them, they themselves are not immune to its effects. 320
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