Many contemporary studies of African chieftaincy are devoted to the unravelling of "chiefly tradition". They have tried to unmask chieftaincy as an artefact of modernist projects of colonial rule, missionary activity and postcolonial stateformation. "Tradition" and "customs" have been interpreted as products of codification, petrification and coercion, all applied in the furtherance of such projects.
Beyond such processes of imposition, however, African chiefs and their authority have often been focal points in the imagination of social und political power, and in the creation and subjugation of ethnicities. Research on chieftaincy has revealed continuities and discontinuities that are highly pertinent to the understanding of African societies today. This research forms the core of the contribution of this volume. Chiefs are shown to be richly varied in their responses to state authority and to the wishes and contestations of their subjects. They are viewed and analysed here in the light of the many diverse forces that determine their positions, their symbolic functions, and the resources they can mobilise within African societies and polities.
New light is also shed on the precolonial history of chieftaincy and on its diasporic spread to places both insided and outside Africa. The book will give further breath and depth to the study of contemporary African chieftaincy.
Contents:
Chieftancy in Africa: Three Facets of a Hybrid Role, E.Adriaan B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal; The Elusive Chief: Authority and Leadership in Surma Society (Ethiopia), Jan Abbink; Modern Local Administration and Traditional Authority in Zaire. Duality or unity? An inquiry in the Kuvu, Dirk Beke; Nkoya Royal Chiefs and the Kazanga Cultural Association in Western Central Zambia today- Resilience, Decline or Folklorisation?, Wim van Binsbergen; Traditional Chiefs and Modern Land Tenure Law in Niger, Christian Lund/Gerti Hesseling; "One Chief, One Vote": The Revival of Traditional Authorities in Post-Apartheid South Africa, Ineke van Kessel/Barbara Oomen; The "Anglophone Problem" and Chieftaincy in Anglophone Cameroon, Piet Konings; Primus Inter Pares: Ideology or Praxis? A historical analysis of chieftaincy in Jamaican Maroon societies, Werner Zips.
Zum Autor/Herausgeber: E. Adriaan B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal is a senior researcher at the Africa Studies Centre in Leiden and part-time professor at the University of Leiden; Rijk van Dijk is research fellow at the African Studies Centre in London.
Beyond such processes of imposition, however, African chiefs and their authority have often been focal points in the imagination of social und political power, and in the creation and subjugation of ethnicities. Research on chieftaincy has revealed continuities and discontinuities that are highly pertinent to the understanding of African societies today. This research forms the core of the contribution of this volume. Chiefs are shown to be richly varied in their responses to state authority and to the wishes and contestations of their subjects. They are viewed and analysed here in the light of the many diverse forces that determine their positions, their symbolic functions, and the resources they can mobilise within African societies and polities.
New light is also shed on the precolonial history of chieftaincy and on its diasporic spread to places both insided and outside Africa. The book will give further breath and depth to the study of contemporary African chieftaincy.
Contents:
Chieftancy in Africa: Three Facets of a Hybrid Role, E.Adriaan B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal; The Elusive Chief: Authority and Leadership in Surma Society (Ethiopia), Jan Abbink; Modern Local Administration and Traditional Authority in Zaire. Duality or unity? An inquiry in the Kuvu, Dirk Beke; Nkoya Royal Chiefs and the Kazanga Cultural Association in Western Central Zambia today- Resilience, Decline or Folklorisation?, Wim van Binsbergen; Traditional Chiefs and Modern Land Tenure Law in Niger, Christian Lund/Gerti Hesseling; "One Chief, One Vote": The Revival of Traditional Authorities in Post-Apartheid South Africa, Ineke van Kessel/Barbara Oomen; The "Anglophone Problem" and Chieftaincy in Anglophone Cameroon, Piet Konings; Primus Inter Pares: Ideology or Praxis? A historical analysis of chieftaincy in Jamaican Maroon societies, Werner Zips.
Zum Autor/Herausgeber: E. Adriaan B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal is a senior researcher at the Africa Studies Centre in Leiden and part-time professor at the University of Leiden; Rijk van Dijk is research fellow at the African Studies Centre in London.