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view original PDF samples from this book (all samples © 2003 Wim van Binsbergen): The book's detailed table of contents, pp. 5-8 Cumulative bibliography for the book as a whole (necessary in order to read the Introduction and Chapter 8 in full), pp. 291-316. Notes on contributors, pp. 317-320. A full-text PDF of the entire book may be viewed by clicking the present link |
in
honour of Emile Adriaan B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal
in
collaboration with Riekje Pelgrim
Societies constitute themselves by the
historical interplay between the dynamics of power and the rule
of law. The African continent has presented numerous intriguing
instances of this, particularly during the colonial and
postcolonial eras.
Recent
scholarship has realised that traditional rulers (‘kings’,
‘chiefs’) occupy a pivotal place in the dynamics of power in
Africa. Their existence defies the North Atlantic constitutional
logic imposed during the colonial period. However, instead of
fading into the distance, traditional rulers have asserted
themselves as foci of ethnic and regional consciousness, and as
bearers of a legitimacy and a judicial power which are
underpinned by local cosmological meaning. They control symbolic
capital which the nation-state dearly needs. Traditional rulers
negotiate with national and international bodies in numerous ways
and with varying, often surprising, outcomes. A detailed
empirical analysis of this interplay yields a model of the
plurality of legitimation, accounting in part for the failure of
African postcolonial states and suggesting new, effective ways
towards ‘good governance’.
In the study of the role of African traditional leaders, the work of Emile Adriaan B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal has made a major impact from the 1980s onwards. Drawing upon this inspiration, this collection (marking his retirement from academic life) presents nine case studies of the dynamics of African traditional leadership and its socio-political setting. African and European specialists deal with local situations in countries as diverse as Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Cameroon, Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania, and South Africa. The debate on the resilience of African chieftainship has particularly been conducted in the field of legal anthropology, and two studies on dispute and legal pluralism add further relief to the emerging argument, whose theoretical implications are pursued in an examination of twentieth-century wars and of ‘9.11’. The introduction first examines van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal’s career against the background of major trends in African Studies; it subsequently analyses the relation between chiefs and the post-colonial state in terms of legitimation, the zero-sum game model, and agency.
ISBN 3-8258-6785-4
| Lit |
LIT (Berlin/Boston/Muenster) for African Studies Centre, Leiden, 2003 |
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Front cover: Chief Mwene Mutondo Chipimbi of the western Nkoya people, Zambia, posing in state, 1991. Note the leopard skin, Conus shell pendant, flyswitch, executioner’s axe, and royal stool. The portrait in top is of the Zambian head of state. (Photo: Jonathan Kapangila†)
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