Abstract
The article provides an example of how 'formal' and 'informal' modes of power and legitimacy, as well as material and symbolic leadership resources, may intersect and interrelate. It analyses the sources of power that a Big Man in West Africa mobilised in order to appropriate mining rights and to establish leadership in a gold mining camp. As an entrepreneur in an economic field directly regulated by state laws and authorities, he has to operate within these structures while at the same time subverting them by creating a 'system of personal power' that resembles Sahlins' classic model of the Big Man in Melanesia. Although he is elected to represent the gold diggers, his leadership position rests not so much on a formal vote as on wealth, violence, and charisma. These attributes are underscored in performances that draw on symbols of power and prestige, linking commonly held ideas about traditional rule and conspicuous consumption to personal legitimacy.
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