This paper discusses general political and economic issues in Nawuriland during and after German colonialism. The paper argues that the legacies of German colonialism are still largely seen and... Show moreThis paper discusses general political and economic issues in Nawuriland during and after German colonialism. The paper argues that the legacies of German colonialism are still largely seen and felt in Nawuriland especially in plantation projects, land and chieftaincy. Show less
This book offers a historical analysis of the embattled structures of rural local governance in South Africa, with specific reference to the role of traditional authorities in Xhalanga in the... Show moreThis book offers a historical analysis of the embattled structures of rural local governance in South Africa, with specific reference to the role of traditional authorities in Xhalanga in the Eastern Cape. More specifically, the book illustrates how at least in the Xhalanga district chieftainship was contested from the establishment of the district in 1865 to the advent of democracy in South Africa. Two related themes are addressed: the question of the survival of traditional authorities up to the postcolonial/apartheid era and the question of how traditional authorities derive their authority and legitimacy. The book shows that the survival of traditional authorities can be linked directly to their control of the land allocation process, rather than popular support. The issue of the legitimacy of traditional authorities, especially in a democracy, is investigated against the background of the tension in the 1993 Interim Constitution and the 1996 Constitution, which recognized the institution of traditional leadership. These constitutions, along with emerging post-1994 legislation, advocated a form of democracy that was based on the liberal principles of representation at all levels of government, including local government, while, at the same time, recognizing a hereditary institution of traditional leadership for rural residents. [ASC Leiden abstract]. Show less
Based on the study of chiefs, elders and local leaders in southern Ethiopia, this paper analyses the idea of authority, legitimacy and governance among three small-scale societies, the Me'en, the... Show moreBased on the study of chiefs, elders and local leaders in southern Ethiopia, this paper analyses the idea of authority, legitimacy and governance among three small-scale societies, the Me'en, the Dizi and the Suri. It shows that in southern Ethiopia efforts were made to replace charismatic and traditional authority by a bureaucratic structure of rulers and legal procedures instigated by the expanding national State, but that this process was neither complete nor successful, because the sources of legitimacy of leadership and authority remained firmly within the local societies and were ill understood by outsiders, including State authorities. The central imperial State (upto 1974) did not use the pre-existing forms of local chiefs and other authorities and simply bypassed them either by appointing its own administrators as an extra layer of power or by relying upon provincial lords or kings in the core regions of the empire. The appointees had little connection with the local population. If they became too popular they were removed. Their loyalty only had to be upward, towards the emperor and his political circle. In the Derg era (1974-1991), this authoritarian pattern was reinforced, and wherever traditional chiefs existed, they were violently removed and suppressed. To date these three forms of authority co-exist and interact and define much of the local political dynamics, including violent conflict. Includes bibliographic references and notes. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
The author first traces the successive approaches to African chieftaincy in the course of the 20th century, contrasting the dualistic and the transactionalist models. He then examines the thesis... Show moreThe author first traces the successive approaches to African chieftaincy in the course of the 20th century, contrasting the dualistic and the transactionalist models. He then examines the thesis of the resilient chief by considering a case from western central Zambia. He shows that the power base of local chiefs and their room for manouvring is weakening and that the chiefs are experimenting with new strategies in order to survive. They are driven into the arms of new actors on the local scene, against whom they are rather defenceless. One such new actor is an ethnic voluntary organization, the Kazanga Cultural Association. This NGO has been amazingly successful in bridging indigenous politics and the State in a process of ethnicization. Gradually, the revival of chieftainship which this NGO has brought about, is turning out to lead not to resilience but to impotent folklorization. Chiefs who are unable to link their symbolic capital - their ceremonial functions - to the experimental worlds of the urbanites, find themselves locked into a position of declining significance. Show less
Many local tenure arrangements in Niger were largely implicit, not recorded in any codified form. In the process of codification now underway, chiefs are regarded as the key interpreters of... Show moreMany local tenure arrangements in Niger were largely implicit, not recorded in any codified form. In the process of codification now underway, chiefs are regarded as the key interpreters of tradition, mutating the implicit into the explicit. Land tenure reform is not without contradictions. How are chiefs to maintain a level of flexibility and dynamism within the codified, rigidified form that the local tenure arrangements will have once they are made explicit? How are chiefs to determine which implicit local customary practice is to have primacy in a codified form, since their parameters are always changing from season to season and from year to year? As the new 'Code rural' in Niger shows, the invention-of-tradition approach which has gained prominence in English-language research has failed in its French counterparts. Both planner-administrators and academics are engaged in a discourse that seems to take tradition as an undisputed given. The remarkable thing is that is appears to work. The 'Code rural' has been considered path-breaking and innovative because it seeks to modernize tenure rules without breaking with tradition. The conclusion is that land tenure legislation can be modernized by integrating traditional chiefs into the legal framework. Show less
This article examines recent developments of local authority and 'leadership' among the Surma of southern Ethiopia, where the author carried out field research over the years 1990-1995. The... Show moreThis article examines recent developments of local authority and 'leadership' among the Surma of southern Ethiopia, where the author carried out field research over the years 1990-1995. The intention is to analyse the nature of 'authority' in a non-State social formation, in which 'chiefs' in the proper sense of the word are absent. The author gives an overview of the three different political systems which have succeeded each other in Ethiopia since the late 19th century: Haile Selassie's feudalist monarchy (until 1974), the Dergue's centralist republic (1974-1991), and the present ethno-regional federal republic, and examines to what extent these different types of governance have had a transformative impact on traditional forms of local leadership. He argues that southern Ethiopian local administration has always been characterized by an uneasy alliance of two types of leaders: imported highland rulers and local, indigenous 'chiefs' or ritual leaders ('komoru'). The Surma 'komoru' have generally remained outside the political arena. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French and Italian Show less
Contrary to the studies of ethnic authorities in the Zambian and Ghanaian mines by A.L. Epstein (1958), J. Crisp (1984), and C. Lentz and V. Erlmann (1989), the present study demonstrates that... Show moreContrary to the studies of ethnic authorities in the Zambian and Ghanaian mines by A.L. Epstein (1958), J. Crisp (1984), and C. Lentz and V. Erlmann (1989), the present study demonstrates that chieftaincy has continued to play an important mediating role between capital and labour in estate tea production at Ndu, a small Wimbum town in the northeastern part of the Bamenda Grassfields in Cameroon, where the author conducted fieldwork in 1991. Capitalism has not yet penetrated deeply in this area and chiefs (or 'Fons') still occupy a powerful, even sacred, position in society. Under these circumstances, estate management has tended to rely on the local chief for both labour recruitment and worker control. While the chief often sided with the management, he also distinguished himself as the custodian of "tradition" and the champion of the interests of his (Ndu) subjects. He firmly resisted management preference for female labour as a threat to "traditional" patriarchal control. He was also inclined to endorse his subjects' loyalty to certain "traditional" norms and values which conflicted with the capitalist work ethic, and to put pressure on management to advance the careers of Ndu men. At the same time, there is evidence that the intermediary role of chieftaincy has weakened as a result of the developing trade unionism on the estate and the emergence of new power holders and several ethnic associations. Bibliogr., ref Show less
