Fleeting Wealth: On Gain and Loss of Contemporary Inalienable Possessions

Brandaan Huigen

Economic Anthropology, 2026, vol. 13, issue 1

Abstract: This article explores how diverse South Africans often struggle to keep their inalienable possessions, especially homes, and modern electronics. These items temporarily remain with their owners until being forced into circulation owing to repossession by banks and frequent property thefts. Homes and electronics have become aspirational items for South Africans with democracy that can build social bonds, hierarchies, and the prospects of lasting prosperity. Although people achieve many of these inalienable characteristics for some time, their loss cuts short any wealth generation, leading many into a downward spiral of misfortune. Despite the acute risks, loss does not deter many people from pursuing sustainable wealth. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa and thought on inalienability, I consequently suggest that apart from analyzing wealth accumulation, it is also necessary to understand its erasure and the ebb and flow between these trends. As an increasingly prevalent feature of social and economic life in volatile societies like South Africa, wealth possession is viewed as fleeting: Though often reachable, inalienable possessions briefly remain with individuals and families desperate for upward mobility.

Date: 2026
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