This work investigates how the Ethiopian state is constructed and maintained through the mundane, everyday interactions between local bureaucrats and the citizenry. Davide Chinigò, a researcher specializing in political anthropology and African governance, utilizes ethnographic fieldwork and political theory to argue that state power is not merely a top-down imposition but a performative process enacted at the local scale. By examining the micro-practices of administration, the author demonstrates how the state becomes visible and tangible to the population through specific bureaucratic rituals and spatial configurations.

Experts in African political studies highlight this text as a rigorous contribution to the anthropology of the state. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for scholars and advanced students of political science and sociology.