1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910460713703321

Autore

Nyamnjoh Francis B. <1961->

Titolo

Modernising traditions and traditionalising modernity in Africa : chieftaincy and democracy in Cameroon and Botswana / / Francis B. Nyamnjoh

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Bamenda, Cameroon : , : Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

9956-762-79-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (84 p.)

Disciplina

320.9688109049

Soggetti

Democracy - Botswana

Democracy - Cameroon

Local government - Botswana

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

1. Chieftaincy studies in Africa : an overview -- 2. Chieftaincy and the game of legitimacy in Cameroon -- 3. Chieftaincy and the negotiation of Botswana's democracy -- 4. Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

Chieftaincy in Africa has displayed remarkable dynamics and adaptability to new socio-economic and political developments, without becoming totally transformed in the process. Almost everywhere on the continent, chiefdoms and chiefs have become active agents in the quest for ethnic, cultural symbols as a way of maximising opportunities at the centre of bureaucratic and state power, and at the home village where control over land and labour often require both financial and symbolic capital. Chieftaincy remains central to ongoing efforts at developing democracy and accountability in line with the expectations of Africans as individual 'citizens' and also as 'subjects' of various cultural communities. This book uses Cameroon and Botswana as case studies, to argue that the rigidity and prescriptiveness of modernist partial theories have left a major gap in scholarship on chiefs and chieftaincy in Africa. It stresses that studies of domesticated agency in Africa are sorely needed to capture the creative ongoing



processes and to avoid overemphasising structures and essentialist perceptions on chieftaincy and the cultural communities that claim and are claimed by it.