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10.1093/afraf/adr041
Se arc h this jo urnal:
MODERN CHIEFS: TRADITION, DEVELOPMENT AND RETURN AMONG TRADITIONAL AUTHORITIES IN GHANA
Afr Aff (Lond) (2011) doi: 10.1093/afraf/adr041 First published online: June 29, 2011
N auja K le ist *
Abstract
↵ *Nauja Kleist ( nkl@diis.dk) is project senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. I am grateful for comments and questions from Rita Abrahamsen, Sara Dorman, and two anonymous reviewers as well as from Bruno Riccio, Kristine Krause, Katharina Schramm, Lindsay Whitfield, Peter Hansen, and Simon Turner in response to earlier drafts of the article. Likewise I thank Takyiwaa Manuh, Irene Odotei, Alhassan Anamz oya, and George Bob- Milliar for interesting discussions on chieftaincy. Most of all, I thank the interviewed chiefs and other interlocutors for sharing their thoughts with me.
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Appointment of traditional authorities with an international migrant background has
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become an important trend in Ghana. Such ‘return chiefs’ are expected to bring
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development and moderniz ation, but – as former international migrants – they are
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also seen as potentially estranged from local customs and realities. As presumed
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guardians of tradition, they are thus placed in a situation that poses a range of dilemmas of legitimacy and public authority. The article argues that return chiefs are in an ambivalent position between the domains of tradition and modernity and that they endeavour to overcome this dilemma through emphasiz ing their foundation in
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they endeavour to overcome this dilemma through emphasiz ing their foundation in
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simultaneously practise and invoke the traditional and the modern. In this way, the
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transformation of chieftaincy is embedded in both local and global contexts. Return
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tradition as well as by using their professional and international experience to spur local development and moderniz e the chieftaincy institution. Return chiefs thus
chiefs go beyond local customs to bring development and innovation to their areas, mobiliz ing international networks, touring European and North American countries, and collaborating with international development agencies, NGOs, and migrants.
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Their practices are thus at once local and global, and the article calls for inclusion
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of both perspectives in contemporary chieftaincy studies.
Top Abstract
MUCH HAS BEEN W RITTEN ABOUT the recent transformation of African chieftaincy.
Methodological considerations
Contrary to the expectations of moderniz ation theorists, chieftaincy institutions
Modern chiefs
have not disappeared or been replaced by modern institutions of governance.
The dilemmas of return
Rather, there has been a resurgence and formal recognition of traditional authorities
A moral economy of reciprocity and belonging
in sub- Saharan Africa since the early 1990s, often converging with multi- party
Chiefs as development actors
democratiz ation and neo- liberal reform.1 This development has led to a renewed
Recogniz ing and incorporating
interest in African chieftaincy, focusing inter alia on the relationship between the state
Conclusion
and traditional authorities in relation to issues such as democracy, governance, and
Footnotes
trust, 2 as well as the role of traditional authorities as new development actors. 3 These are important issues which deserve much attention. However, one hitherto ignored aspect of the transformation of chieftaincy is how traditional authorities are embedded in current processes of international migration and transnationalism. Indeed, as Rijk van Dijk and Adriaan van Nieuwaal pointed out more than ten years ago, there is a need for more research on ‘how African chieftaincy interacts with external forces, such as international organiz ations and diasporic African
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communities’.4 With a few exceptions, 5 this observation is still valid. The article addresses this lacuna, analysing how Ghanaian chiefs with a background as international migrants draw upon transnational networks and experiences to bring development and moderniz ation. It thereby contributes to the evolution of studies on traditional authorities by showing how the chieftaincy institution is embedded in both transnational and local contexts.6 The focus on migration and development is important. Following recent policy attention to this relationship, policy makers and governments all over the world have
Mo s t Re a d
Mo s t Cit e d
ETHNICITY, PATRO NAG E AND THE AFRICAN S TATE: THE P O LITICS O F UNCIVIL NATIO NALIS M Afr i ca i n th e wo r l d : a h i s to r y o f e xtr a ve r s i o n THE END O F FO REIG N AID TO AFRICA? CO NCERNS AB O UT DO NO R P O LICIES
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started calling upon ‘their’ overseas populations to involve them in national development, encouraging the temporary or permanent return of especially highly skilled migrants.7 Like other highly skilled return migrants, traditional authorities with an international migrant background – ‘return chiefs’ as I will term them here – are perceived to be in favourable positions to mobiliz e international networks and bring development and moderniz ation. In the words of an interviewed return chief, ‘the
DO NO R P O LICIES P e a s a n t g r i e va n ce a n d i n s u r g e n cy i n S i e r r a Le o n e : J u d i ci a l s e r fd o m a s a d r i ve r o f co n fl i ct Wa r s d o e n d ! Ch a n g i n g p a tte r n s o f p o l i ti ca l vi o l e n ce i n s u b -S a h a r a n Afr i ca » Vi e w a l l Mo s t Re a d a r ti cl e s
modern chief today is faced with expectations of development and progress. There is an orientation towards the exterior world and the chiefs should help facilitating that.' 8 However, the position of return chiefs can also cause debate, as returnees are sometimes accused of having lost their cultural identity and being out of touch with local conditions and tradition.9 For return chiefs, who are expected to bring development as well as being the guardians of tradition and custom, this situation poses a range of dilemmas of legitimacy and ‘the morality of power’, 10 which I explore in this article. Ghana is an interesting case for such an analysis. First, Ghanaian chieftaincy is well- known for being a powerful and important institution – a position which was further strengthened with the guarantee of chieftaincy in the 1992 Constitution of the Fourth Republic, which also marked the beginning of multi- party democracy, connecting democratiz ation and an enhanced position of chiefs. However, though generally cherished and respected, chieftaincy is continuously debated 11 and chieftaincy disputes are numerous, implying that the legitimacy of individual chiefs is not automatically granted. Second, migration is an integral part of Ghanaian history and society and up to 1.5 million people are estimated to live outside the country, 12 mainly in West Africa, the US and Western Europe. Many Ghanaian migrants are engaged in various transnational practices, including sending remittances, and migration is considered to have important development potential.13 Finally, since the early 2000s, a number of Ghanaian migrants have returned to Ghana 14 to retire, to go into business or politics, or because they have been elected as chiefs. Indeed, an increasing number of chiefs in Ghana are said to be well- educated returnees – including prominent chiefs such as the Asantehene and the Okyenhene – a phenomenon also known from examples in Cameroon15 and Zambia.16 This situation raises the following three questions which guide this article: First, how do Ghanaian return chiefs articulate their position and the dilemmas they face as returnees? Second, how do they engage in transnational resource mobiliz ation PDFmyURL.com
targeting Ghanaian migrants or other potential donors? And, third, which registers of legitimacy do they draw upon? I am thus interested in both how return chiefs endeavour to mobiliz e migrants as well as in the social and symbolic relations that make their positions and mobiliz ation efforts possible, legitimate, and potentially successful. On the basis of interviews and observations, I argue that return chiefs endeavour to bring together ‘the modern’ and ‘the traditional’ but that they often find themselves in an ambivalent tension between these registers of legitimacy. The article shows that chiefs emphasiz e their foundation in tradition, performing chieftaincy through their statutory activities, dress, and conduct as well as articulating their position in terms of moral obligation. At the same time, return chiefs also describe themselves as development actors with international experience, touring Western countries, collaborating with international development agencies, and incorporating migrants and other donors into their development efforts through collaboration and public recognition. Tradition and being modern thus constitute two simultaneous, but potentially contrasting, registers of legitimacy.
Methodological considerations The article is based on ten in- depth interviews with eight return chiefs from six different regions in Ghana. It is thus of a qualitative and explorative nature, analysing emerging trends of contemporary chieftaincy, rather than being representative of all return chiefs in Ghana, let alone all traditional authorities. Six paramount chiefs were interviewed as well as two senior divisionary chiefs.17 Interviews were carried out during six months of fieldwork in Ghana in 2008 as well as one month in 2010, and supplemented with observations during public ceremonies. Likewise Internet material on chieftaincy is included. At the time of fieldwork, the interviewed chiefs were aged between their early 40s and 70s, and had been chiefs for 5–35 years. Before becoming chiefs, they had spent from a few years to several decades working and/or studying in North America and Europe. Six of them returned in the late 1990s or early 2000s – four of them to take up a position as chief. Though not all from wealthy families, they were all highly educated professionals with backgrounds as lawyers, administrators, businessmen, or university professors; two of them held doctoral degrees from universities in Germany and the US. All of them now live partor full- time in the capital of Accra, pursuing their professional careers or having palaces located there. They are thus part of the educated elite in Ghana – and, PDFmyURL.com
indeed, of a chieftaincy elite. Theoretically, the article is informed by an understanding of chieftaincy as a dynamic phenomenon where traditional authorities (as well as other actors and institutions) are active agents in the continuing (re)production of the institution. Its point of departure is an understanding of tradition – and hence of traditional authorities – as in itself a product of modernity, 18 being invented or ‘re- imagined’ rather than the expression of an unchanging past.19 Yet, chieftaincy cannot be reduced to colonial invention but exists in a tension between being imposed, re- invented and ‘reintegrated into new vistas of power’.20 Indeed, just as the notion of ‘being modern’ is extremely appealing in Africa today, so the notion of tradition is a strong ‘mobiliz ing metaphor’, 21 and I will argue that both are important dimensions in contemporary chieftaincy. This dynamic and relational understanding of tradition and modernity turns the analytical attention to the emic and local meanings of these terms; to how they are imagined, articulated, and performed in particular contexts, and to the boundarymaking work between these domains. It thus implies a focus on positioning and how the chiefs present their public selves as chiefs and as returnees, 22 using the terms of tradition and the modern to ‘constitute the speakers and hearers in certain ways’ .23 In the case of chieftaincy, as we shall see, these terms or domains are articulated as fundamentally different, but also as closely interlinked. Chiefs and their subjects are thus actively constructing and reproducing these domains through performing, invoking, and engaging with them.
Modern chiefs That chieftaincy should not be regarded as a static phenomenon is witnessed in the institution's long and dynamic history in Ghana. Chieftaincy dates back to precolonial times and has been described as marked by ‘evolutionary tenacity and contradictions, but not refusal of change’.24 While the early British colonial rulers encapsulated traditional authorities into a system of indirect rule, the leaders of independent Ghana perceived them as traitors and curtailed their power, claiming that traditional authorities were impediments to development and should be replaced by modern and rational institutions.25 Today it is evident that this did not happen. Rather, Ghanaian chieftaincy has evolved into an institution with (what are PDFmyURL.com
characteriz ed as) both modern and traditional dimensions, backed and guaranteed by the state and the constitution. The main functions of chiefs include dispute settlement; codification of customary law; organiz ation of rituals, ceremonies and festivals; custody of stool land; organiz ation of communal labour; and promotion of socio- economic development.26 Chiefs' responsibilities thus include both statutory and non- statutory aspects, such as promoting development. Yet chiefs have been involved in the development of their areas since pre- colonial times, 27 and it is thus mistaken to claim that this is a recent concern. Rather, contemporary chiefs face particular challenges which are of a novel nature, such as demands of good governance, the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT), and expectations of international connections. Therefore, in addition to royalty and seniority, education and access to powerful networks have become central qualifications for chieftaincy election. This has led to the category of modern chiefs, capable of bringing progress and international orientation, as the comment by a return chief quoted in my introduction showed. At a first glance, the idea of being a modern chief might seem self- contradictory. However, the term does not express a devaluation of or disregard for the traditional aspects of the chieftaincy institution, but rather indicates the coexistence of modern and traditional dimensions. Indeed, being a modern chief was a shared ambition and self- description among all the chiefs I talked to in Ghana. Chiefs emphasiz ed their educated backgrounds and ambitions to further development in their traditional area, 28 balancing between the domains of the modern and the traditional, as the following example of Nana shows. Nana, a tall and round former military officer and business man, moved to Canada to study in the early 1970s and ended up staying for almost 30 years, working as a business manager in a big corporate firm. He returned to Ghana in 1999 to take up a position as senior divisionary chief in his rural hometown in the Eastern Region. I first interviewed him in his palace there. As prescribed by the royal protocol, he was dressed in a long robe, sitting in a royal chair, and surrounded by his counsellors and sub- chiefs. On that occasion Nana described the transformation of the chief position in the following way: When I was installed as a chief, the position had changed. Before there was PDFmyURL.com
more focus on traditional things such as festivals and funerals. Now, it is a full- time job because you need to help develop people. We all have portfolios now. Everybody has a function; it is moderniz ed and decentraliz ed. … Some of us are getting tired of sitting down; the people need somebody to push them.29 In spite of the obvious changes in life style between his current and past life, Nana emphasiz ed how he now uses his Canadian leadership experiences as a chief, pushing people towards engagement in development. Yet, as a return migrant who had lived half of his life abroad, he also had to demonstrate his knowledge of tradition and local custom, and he spoke of the history of the area and the stool in rich detail. At a later private interview in Accra, however, he disclosed how he has to watch his step not to appear foreign and be seen as degrading tradition. Discussing the lavish funerals in the area, Nana explained that though he thinks that the funerals are too costly and time- consuming, he is very careful not to propose unduly dramatic changes. All the funerals take too much time and money that could be used for development but I am very slow in suggesting changes. People wouldn't accept it and would say it is because I lived abroad. I will be condemned, and then I cannot do anything. There are purists around – also among the traditional authorities – and they don't accept any changes.30 For Nana, being a modern chief – but not a too modern one – implied striking a balance between introducing change and moderniz ation and respecting tradition, thus avoiding being seen as culturally polluted by his years in North America. Indeed, a commonly shared notion of a good chief in Ghana is one who is installed and reigns according to tradition.31 Nana assessed that he could moderniz e certain things in his hometown, yet he did not want to run the risk of messing with traditions and thus with his own authority. He thereby indicated how his authority as chief is embedded in a web of rules and expectations, where both subjects and other traditional authorities keep a watchful eye on what the chief does and says. As Weber writes, the command of traditional authorities is only legitimate ‘within certain limits that cannot be overstepped without endangering the master's traditional status’ .32 Or, in other words, chiefs have to remain within a circumscribed space of action in order for them to be recogniz ed as legitimate rulers, and they have to position PDFmyURL.com
and negotiate their innovations as being located within this space. Several chiefs echoed Nana's self- description: a knowledgeable custodian of tradition, as well as one who exercised professional and educated leadership. However, while Nana emphasiz ed that he had to be careful not to violate ideas of tradition, watching his back, other chiefs have more power. One such chief is the Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin, paramount chief of the Akyim Abuakwa Traditional Area and one of the most powerful chiefs in Ghana. During an interview in his palace in Accra, he explained his views on chieftaincy and custom in the following way: Chieftaincy gives us a sense of identity; it gives us a sense of belongingness. It give us appreciation of what those who came before us did and enables us to sit down and look at their lives and deduce the things we want to continue. Those things that have outlived their usefulness, we drop.33 The Okyenhene went to New York city to study political science as a young man and worked in an insurance company until 1999 when he became chief, now living half of the week in Kibi, Akyim, and the other half in Accra. He is well- known in Ghana for his engagement in development and environmental issues and his unconventional actions as a chief – such as going jogging in public and taking an HIV- test 34 – as well as his American accent when speaking English.35 The chief articulated a dynamic understanding of tradition, as offering identity and belonging but also as practices that could – and should – be dropped if they are not useful. Being a modern chief can thus be described as having the ability to simultaneously master the statutory, leadership, and development aspects of the chieftaincy institution – and, not least, the ability to successfully negotiate what should be seen as praiseworthy traditions to be celebrated and respected. Modern chieftaincy is thus defined by its opposition not to tradition but to being parochial, illiterate and without connection to the world outside Ghana, ‘just sitting down’ and not acting, not pushing. However, there are also differences as to the degree that chiefs can circumscribe and negotiate tradition, and more powerful chiefs have a greater say in the definition of which traditions should be considered useful or redundant, thereby extending – or circumscribing – the space of action for traditional authorities. The ability to define the meanings and boundaries of the traditional and the modern is PDFmyURL.com
thus closely related to power.
The dilemmas of return An implication of electing professional and educated persons as chiefs is that they often continue their professional careers in parallel with their duties as traditional authorities in order to pursue their careers and generate income to sustain their families and uphold their lifestyles. This situation has led to the phenomenon of socalled absentee chiefs 36 who stay with their families in Accra or other major cities but go back to their palaces and traditional areas during weekends and holidays. Absentee chiefs are not a phenomenon limited to international return migrants, but also include chiefs who have left their hometown to pursue further education and a professional career elsewhere in Ghana – internal migrants, in other words – and who remain partly outside their hometown after taking up the office. Indeed, the interviewed chiefs did not distinguish between absentee chiefs with an international or an internal migrant background, adding that Accra constitutes the political and commercial centre of Ghana. Therefore, they explained, high- ranking chiefs need to have a presence there, and several of the paramount chiefs had palaces in the capital as well as in their hometown. However, they sharply distinguished between so- called local and foreign absentee chiefs; the former stay part- time in Accra, whereas the latter remain outside Ghana after becoming chiefs. An elderly paramount chief from the Eastern Region simply stated that ‘if you want to be a proper chief, you need to go back’.37 Likewise a senior official in the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture described foreign absentee chiefs as ‘appalling’ in contrast to local absentee chiefs whom he characteriz ed as ‘normal chiefs’. He explained: A person who comes to Accra and becomes a big man and doesn't go home will not become a good chief. It's not a question if it is Accra or the UK; it depends on their knowledge … the more prominent the stool is, the less people find it proper. You cannot have the best of both worlds, just staying outside. Then being a chief is just a status symbol.38 This statement accentuates the importance of local commitment and knowledge of tradition against a status- oriented vulgariz ation of the chieftaincy institution where ‘bigness’, money, or education can be used to buy a stool. Likewise it is a denunciation of the legitimacy of foreign chiefs because of the absence of sacrifice, PDFmyURL.com
‘having the best of both worlds, just staying outside’. While human sacrifice took place in the past, sacrifice today is not bloody. Rather, as several of the interviewed chiefs explained, it refers to challenges in terms of lifestyle and responsibilities.39 While some traditional authorities are very wealthy – such as the Asantehene and the Okyenhene in the Ashanti Region – chiefs from destitute rural areas only have limited access to royalties and other chieftaincy- related income, but are still expected to perform their duties and care for their extended families. Therefore, accepting the position requires a range of reflections. Togbe, a university lecturer who did his PhD in literature in Germany prior to his enstoolment, shared his considerations on becoming and being senior divisionary chief in his impoverished rural hometown in the Volta Region during two formal interviews and a series of informal and private conversations. When I was approached initially, I declined … the responsibilities are really heavy, and it would mean I had to compromise my career. Then there are economic implications also, because unlike in the past when the chief used to live on the good will and the charity of the people, these days it's the other way around. You are not living at home, and when you want to go home, they can call you any time. You swear an oath, you say that any time they call you, you will attend to their call. So, you have to move between Accra and your hometown at your own expense. You know you receive visitors. The institution is not endowed in our area, like it is in some other parts of Ghana … Because they [people in the traditional area] cannot support you financially, you are supposed to continue working.40 In the end, Togbe decided to accept the responsibility and returned to Ghana, now working in Accra during the week and staying in his hometown during weekends and holidays. For him and other return chiefs, returning is embedded in a range of dilemmas, not least in relation to the strains of living in a poor country. Just like other successful migrants, return chiefs are expected to continue supporting their communities and kin after return. Because, as Nana said, ‘there is poverty and hunger and therefore it becomes an obligation to give something’.41 Furthermore being a chief implies adherence to prescribed rules of behaviour. Indeed, Togbe explained the extensive sets of rules that he must observe when he is in his hometown or in the company of his subjects, such as never walking or driving PDFmyURL.com
alone, not being seen eating, and not dressing casually. The sacrifice is thus not only of comfort and income but also of time and privacy.
A moral economy of reciprocity and belonging The webs of social relations, obligations, and expectations described above form part of a moral economy of reciprocity and belonging in which return chiefs are embedded. If we follow John Lonsdale, the concept of moral economy refers to ‘subjective criteria of equity and exploitation, honour and shame, identity and alienation on which people act, if within strong structural constraints’.42 With inspiration from Pierre Bourdieu, 43 it can also be described as guidelines concerning civic virtue, moral obligations, and notions of good and bad within social fields – in this case referring to norms of generosity and reciprocity based on affiliation to a hometown or traditional area. The moral economy prescribes that prosperous community members support their kin and more broadly people in their hometown – no matter whether they are living in the hometown, in Accra, or abroad.44 Such obligations are sometimes articulated as paying back to those – relatives or the entire village – who morally or financially have contributed to one's upbringing and success, thereby ‘sustaining one‘s place in a network of belonging’ .45 Togbe and other chiefs took great care to embed their choice to accept a chieftaincy position within this moral economy, positioning themselves as dutiful and committed, rather than aiming for status.46 Such statements signal purity – in contrast to those chiefs who are said to ‘have bought’ their way to the stool. Indeed, being a chief is an extremely attractive and honourable position in Ghanaian society, and though articulated as a sacrifice of one's future, a chieftaincy position may also enhance a political or business career.47 Furthermore, while return from North America or Europe implies dealing with poverty and poor infrastructure in Ghana, it usually also entails upward social mobility – not least for return chiefs, as being a high- ranking chief implies higher social status than most Ghanaian migrants could ever dream of obtaining in Europe or North America. However, being a traditional authority in order to obtain higher social status is not legitimate and the de- emphasis of status can thus be seen as a way of legitimiz ing the chieftaincy position. As Bourdieu has pointed out, symbolic capital – legitimate honour, reputation, and PDFmyURL.com
prestige within specific fields – cannot be obtained through deliberate attempts but only as a practical form of recognition.48 In other words, the status, respect, adoration, and worship that chiefs receive as legitimate chiefs should be earned, not bought; it should be associated with selfless sacrifice and obligation, rather than instrumental yearning. It should, in short, be embedded in the moral economy.
Chiefs as development actors To be embedded in a moral economy of reciprocity and belonging does not stand in opposition to expectations of bringing development and innovation. On the contrary, return chiefs (like other chiefs and other successful migrants) are supposed to initiate and support development in their areas, and I now turn to some of their strategies for transnational resource mobiliz ation. In principle, local development is the responsibility of various Ghanaian state institutions as well as of the local district assemblies. However, under pressure from neo- liberalism, economic crisis, and lack of financial and human resources, these institutions often cannot offer the necessary resources, meaning that basic facilities frequently are insufficient. This situation necessitates involvement of so- called non- state actors – including traditional authorities – in local development.49 All the interviewed chiefs were engaged in a range of activities to attract or collaborate with migrants, NGOs, or other donors to further development in their traditional areas. These activities vary in ambition and scope, including a number of high- profile prestige projects. A well- known example is the projects of the Asantehene, Otumfou Osei Tutu II, king of the Ashantis. The Asantehene established the Otumfou Educational Fund in 2000 and obtained a US$4.5 million grant from the World Bank for a Promoting Partnership with Traditional Authorities Project, 50 running between 2003 and 2006. Likewise, the Okyenhene has established the Okyenhene Environmental Foundation Programme and a University College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies 51 in the Eastern Region, supported by Wageningen, Tufts, and Boston universities. The World Bank and the University College projects show how high- ranking Ghanaian chiefs are establishing prestigious projects with international partners, surpassing the Ghanaian government. Indeed, the Okyenhene explicitly criticiz ed the government for being too bureaucratic and inefficient in bringing development, encouraging it – as well as international donors – to PDFmyURL.com
collaborate directly with traditional authorities: We are impressing on our government to work with the traditional authorities for the betterment of this whole country. The reason is that the psychology of ownership plays a part in projects; when the people feel that they own the projects from the beginning to the end, they tend to protect them and work harder. You see accountability and transparency, you also see results. And you can share the benefits, as you share the responsibilities in doing the projects.52 With this statement, the Okyenhene positioned himself and other traditional authorities as central development partners, claiming that traditional authorities can ensure local ownership, accountability, transparency, and, hence, results. He thereby emphasiz ed what he sees as his competitive advantage as a decentraliz ed, locally grounded, and accountable authority, aiming at direct collaboration with international development agencies as well as other international partners. Whereas the Okyenhene was targeting international development agencies as the most attractive development partner, he and the other chiefs were also collaborating with migrants living outside Ghana. Migrants represent important constituencies and potential repositories for support, and all the interviewed chiefs were collaborating with Ghanaian migrant associations.53 Their projects primarily include (mostly second- hand) equipment for local clinics and hospitals but also support for the establishment of libraries, public water taps, and ICT centres.54 In some cases, the migrant associations make contact with the traditional authorities, whereas in others the chiefs, touring Europe and North America, reach out to ‘their’ migrants living outside Ghana. Most of the interviewed chiefs had been on tours to Western countries to meet with – and appeal to – Ghanaian migrants, participating in festivals, fundraising events, and community gatherings. At such events, chiefs meet ‘their’ populations as chiefs, invoking the dual registers of legitimacy of tradition and development. The Ga Mantse, Tackie Tawiah III, paramount chief of the Ga State in the Greater Accra region, pursued an explicit strategy of transnational mobiliz ation and had made four trips as chief and two private trips between his coronation in 2007 and January 2010, when I interviewed him.55 Asked about the role of Ghanaians living abroad in relation to development, he explained:
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It is our prayer that people will use their national instinct to realiz e that we ask for development for their compatriots and not for our own benefit – that they can make a difference for us. They should consider the debt they owe to their origins. Some come back and are amaz ed of the lack of development and the lack of opportunity and employment. So we are praying for some help from our brothers and sisters outside. … There is an awakening of sensibilities and sentimental attachment – friendship, roots of birth, and corporate business.56 The Ga Mantse thus employed the language of moral obligation, roots, and kinship, appealing to ‘brothers and sisters outside’ to make them remember and respond to their debt. He thereby referred to the moral economy of belonging and reciprocity, using it to explain why migrants should contribute to development in his area. Furthermore, the chief explained that, being a former migrant himself who had lived many years in both the UK and the US – working for the Ghana High Commission and the UN – he understands the situation of migrants. ‘This is a huge advantage’, the chief said, ‘because I know them and their disposition and that makes talking to them easier … . I can make them understand our difficulties.' 57 The Ga Mantse's appeal and connection to migrants and his international background are also demonstrated on his website and facebook profile, with photos of the chief dressed in full chieftaincy regalia at various events.58 These include an official visit to the Houses of Parliament in London, a meeting with Ghanaian migrants from the Ga area living in London, and official meetings in London and Accra with a British- Ghanaian politician. Finally, the website appeals to the ‘UK and rest of the world’ to donate to the Ga Mantse Charity Foundation, which was launched in London and is registered in both Ghana and Britain. The chief thus positions himself as transnationally engaged with a strong and powerful presence in London, liaising with ‘his’ migrants as well with British politicians.
Recogniz ing and incorporating Despite his own past as a migrant, it would be a mistake to think that the Ga Mantse meets with migrants abroad as fellow people in the same boat. Rather, he and other chiefs meet them as chiefs, dressed in full chieftaincy regalia and following the norms and rituals connected to the institution, as his website and facebook profile PDFmyURL.com
show. However, there is a certain ambiguity to such encounters, as the chief prayed for support, as the Ga Mantse stated it, rather than commanding it. Indeed, chiefs' authority over international migrants is not granted but must be mobiliz ed and justified, 59 and I suggest that one of the ways that chiefs do this is through simultaneously invoking both registers of legitimacy. This is illustrated in the example of the Dormaahene, Osagyefo Oseadeyo Agyemang Badu II, paramount chief of the Dormaa Area in the Brong Ahafo Region. The Dormaahene studied law for two years in London before returning to Ghana to work as a lawyer, becoming a chief in 1999. He explained how he went on two international tours shortly after his coronation in 1999: Most people from the area are living inside Ghana but a significant number are also living outside and have got to know how the system works there and I went to solicit their views in terms of health, education, et cetera. In 2001, I went on a European tour to UK, Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, and Netherlands. I then went to US and Canada in 2003. There are Dormaa citiz ens or Brong Ahafo associations in all the countries and they worked hand in hand with us to fashion the programme. I told them my visions and solicited their views about how to run the system and develop the area. I decided to make them know that they are a part of the system. It was very, very successful!60 In his account of the tours, the Dormaheene presents himself as appealing to both migrants' senses of belonging and their visions of development. He went on tour as chief – Nieswand has described how the chief's participation in a fundraising event in Berlin in 2001 was staged and performed as a royal visit according to custom61 – but he addressed Dormaa migrants as resourceful citiz ens, ‘soliciting their views about how to run the system and develop the area’, as he explained in the interview above. In this set- up both chief and migrants are cast as modern, resourceful, and development- oriented citiz ens, but their encounters remain embedded in a chieftaincy framework and the ensuing hierarchies. The Dormaheene thus used his authority as chief to appeal to migrants' senses of belonging, responsibility, and obligation. Chiefs also use their public authority when they endow recognition through praising actions congruent with notions of public virtue. Public ceremonies celebrating PDFmyURL.com
donations of funding, projects, or equipment are common in Ghana where dignitaries such as chiefs, politicians, or reverend ministers receive the donations and donors, and they are often documented in the newspaper and on websites. For the donors, such events constitute social arenas of public recognition, 62 where they signal belonging, identification, and loyalty towards their home community. For the granters of recognition, it is a way of exercising public authority and signalling a superior position. This is demonstrated in the following vignette from a function in Nana's hometown, where he received a donation from a visiting American delegation. It's a cloudy morning in June. A big crowd of townspeople and schoolchildren are assembled in one of the local schools, waiting for Nana and the American delegation. The arrival of Nana and his entourage, all dressed in traditional clothes, is announced with drumming, and, once he is seated, some of the chiefs dance for Nana and the delegation. After an opening prayer, Nana delivers a speech for the head of the delegation, emphasiz ing their good personal relations. He recalls how they met a few years ago when she first visited the town – ‘we had fun, didn't we’ – and how she came back the following year and they started discussing contributions to development in town. The word is then passed to the head of delegation. Visibly touched, she presents a cheque for US$7,500 to Nana, stating that she and her group are willing and able to donate more money. Nana thanks her again, promising to make her an eminent citiz en of the town during the annual festival. Afterwards, a group photo is taken on the school ground.63 This event shows how the granting of public recognition has several aspects. First, the event is staged as a traditional ceremony marked by the public performance of chieftaincy with royal dressing, dancing, and conduct. Second, it shows how Nana uses his ability as chief to grant recognition, promising the head of delegation status as an eminent citiz en – a great honour he, as chief, can bestow upon her at the annual festival. Third, he endows recognition in an interpersonal way, emphasiz ing the close social relations between the two of them, thereby signalling a special relationship that goes beyond the donor–recipient affiliation. In sum, the event demonstrates how Nana links the delegation to his own development efforts: he (and not the school principal, the local district assembly, or Ghana Education Service) PDFmyURL.com
received the cheque, and he attempted to mobiliz e the delegation for further contributions, using his power of recognition and his interpersonal skills. While such functions offer spaces of public recognition for the donors, they thus also constitute venues for traditional authorities to demonstrate their capabilities in resource mobiliz ation. Indeed, recognition is a social relation where the act of receiving and bestowing recognition implies specific positions within a given field and moral economy. To be able to bestow public recognition implies public authority – occupying a ‘position of trust, competence, and wisdom’ acknowledged by others 64 – and thereby also the power to define what is seen as praiseworthy and virtuous in the specific field. The appointment of eminent citiz ens constitutes a powerful way in which chiefs bestow public recognition and at the same time incorporate migrants and other donors into their development efforts. A related phenomenon is the so- called development chiefs and development queen mothers – Nk ɔsouhene or Nk ɔsuohemaa in Akan. These are honorary titles conferred on individuals who have contributed to local development and have become a widespread and popular phenomenon in Ghana during the last 20 years. The titles are often awarded to internal or international migrants or citiz ens from other countries 65 and – like the appointment of eminent citiz ens – the phenomenon is seen as ‘a poverty reduction strategy and an appreciation of their efforts to the community’, as a paramount chief from the Volta Region expressed it.66 Such appointments thus constitute a mobiliz ation strategy of incorporating resourceful individuals and groups into chiefs' development efforts, enticing further commitment and, indeed, establishing a connection between the donors and the traditional authorities. Or, in other words, they are attempts to extend the boundaries of moral economy of reciprocity and belonging to include new, exterior, or peripheral actors or to strengthen already existing relationships.
Conclusion In this article, I have explored the ongoing transformation of Ghanaian chieftaincy in an era marked by globaliz ation, international migration, and neo- liberalism, focusing on traditional authorities with an international migrant background. These chiefs occupy an ambivalent position, expected to bring about development but also potentially estranged from local culture and tradition. The article shows how the PDFmyURL.com
positions, transnational mobiliz ation efforts, and legitimacy of return chiefs are negotiated and enacted in a field of potential tension between what is articulated as being traditional and modern. Both tradition and the modern are extremely appealing and desired domains in Ghanaian society today but are also seen as potentially oppositional. Therefore return chiefs have to strike the right balance, demonstrating that they master both registers of legitimacy. On the one hand, the interviewed chiefs positioned themselves as having a solid foundation in tradition, sacrifice, and obligation, staging their public selves as chiefs through performing, dressing, and adhering to the protocols of royal conduct and rituals. On the other, they emphasiz ed their professional leadership, describing themselves as innovative and internationally connected, establishing development projects, touring Western countries, and incorporating migrants, NGOs, or international organiz ations into their own development efforts. However, the distinction between two registers of legitimacy of tradition and modernity is not always very clear- cut. Return chiefs endeavour to bring development as chiefs, using their international networks and professional experience as well as their traditional authority and the pomp and customs of the chieftaincy institution to mobiliz e support and appeal to migrants and potential donors. They thereby simultaneously practise and invoke the two registers. Likewise, the two registers merge in the moral economy of belonging and reciprocity that links people to their hometown through norms of obligation towards kin and community, including expectations of bringing development. Yet, while the registers thus may merge, they are perceived as being rooted in different sets of practices and experiences and may be mobiliz ed to legitimiz e, challenge, or dismiss the practices of chiefs and other persons. This shows that chiefs' legitimacy is contextual and processual with room for manoeuvre, innovation, and negotiation. Yet it also implies that chieftaincy is thoroughly embedded within already established contexts and power structures, and chiefs' actions are policed by other traditional authorities as well as by some of their subjects. Just like other authorities, their legitimacy is circumscribed by cultural and political expectations and norms. Finally, the article shows that the phenomenon of modern chiefs is embedded in both local and global contexts. The emerging trend of appointing traditional authorities with an international migrant background accentuates that chiefs are not only supposed to be thoroughly grounded in local tradition and custom, but that PDFmyURL.com
higher education, professional experience, international experience, and networks are crucial qualifications as well. Indeed, return chiefs go beyond local customs to bring development and innovation to their areas; they are transnationally connected, manoeuvring in a globaliz ed world. Their practices are thus at once local and global, and analyses of the contemporary transformations of chieftaincy must include both perspectives.
Footnotes ↵ 1. For example, Helene Maria Kyed and Lars Buur, ‘Introduction: traditional authority and democratiz ation in Africa’ in Lars Buur and Helene Maria Kyed (eds), State Recognition and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa: A new dawn for traditional authorities? (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, NY and Houndmills, 2007), pp. 1–28; Pierre Englebert, ‘Patterns and theories of traditional resurgence in tropical Africa’, Mondes en Développement 30, 118 (2002), pp. 51–64. ↵ 2. Kyed and Buur, ‘Introduction’; Francis B. Nyamnjoh, ‘Chieftaincy and the negotiation of might and right in Botswana democracy’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies 21, 2 (2003), pp. 233–50. ↵ 3. Kwame Boafo- Arthur, ‘Chieftaincy in Ghana: challenges and prospects in the 21st century’, African and Asian Studies 2, 2 (2003), pp. 125–53; Irene K. Odotei and Albert K. Awedoba (eds), Chieftaincy in Ghana: Culture, governance and development (Sub- Saharan Publishers, Accra, 2006); George M. Bob- Milliar, ‘Chieftaincy, diaspora, and development: the institution of Nkosuohene in Ghana’, African Affairs 108, 433 (2009), pp. 541–88. ↵ 4. Rijk van Dijk and E. Adriaan B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal, ‘Introduction: the domestication of chieftaincy in Africa: from the imposed to the imagined’ in E. Adriaan B. van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal and Rijk van Dijk (eds), African Chieftaincy in a New Socio-Political Landscape (African Studies Centre, Leiden, 1999), p. 17.
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↵ 5. See Bob- Milliar, ‘Chieftaincy, diaspora and development’; Boris Nieswand, ‘Ghanaian migrants in Germany and the social construction of diaspora’, African Diaspora 1, 1–2 (2008), pp. 28–52. ↵ 6. Charles Piot, Remotely Global: Village modernity in West Africa (Chicago University Press, Chicago, IL and London, 1999). ↵ 7. For example, Maurice Schiff and Caglar Oz den, International Migration, Remittances and the Brain Drain (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005); Raj Bardouille, Muna Ndulo, and Margaret Grieco (eds), Africa's Finances: The contribution of remittances (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2008). ↵ 8. Interview, senior divisionary chief in the Volta Region, Accra, 4 June 2008. ↵ 9. John A. Arthur, The African Diaspora in the United States and Europe: The Ghanaian experience (Ashgate, Aldershot and Burlington, VT, 2008); Savina Ammassari, Migration and Development: Factoring return into the equation (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2009). ↵ 10. Carola Lentz , ‘The chief, the mine captain and the politician: legitimating power in northern Ghana’, Africa 68, 1 (1998), p. 46. ↵ 11. Janine Ubink, ‘Traditional authority revisited: popular perceptions of chiefs and chieftaincy in peri- urban Kumasi, Ghana’, Journal of Legal Pluralism 55 (2007), pp. 123–61. ↵ 12. Emmanuel Akyeampong, ‘Africans in the diaspora: the diaspora and Africa’, African Affairs 99, 395 (2000), pp. 183–215; Kwaku Twum- Baah, ‘Volume and characteristics of international Ghanaian migration’ in Takyiwaa Manuh (ed.), At Home in the World? International migration and development in contemporary Ghana and West Africa (Sub- Saharan Publishers, Legon, 2005), pp. 55–77.
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↵ 13. Giles Mohan, ‘Embedded cosmopolitanism and the politics of obligation: the Ghanaian diaspora and development’, Environment and Planning A 38, 5 (2006), pp. 867–83; Nauja Kleist, ‘“Let us rebuild our country”. Migrationdevelopment scenarios in Ghana’ in Darshan Vigneswaran and Joel Quirk (eds), Theorizing the State and Mobility in Africa (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA, forthcoming). ↵ 14. Arthur, The African Diaspora; Ammassari, Migration and Development. ↵ 15. Francis B. Nyamnjoh, ‘“Our traditions are modern, our modernities traditional”: chieftaincy and democracy in contemporary Africa’ (Occasional paper, CODESRIA, Dakar, n.d.), pp. 1–28. ↵ 16. Wolfgang Zeller, ‘“Now we are a town”: chiefs, investors, and the state in Zambia's Western Province’ in Buur and Kyed, State Recognition and Democratization, pp. 209–31. ↵ 17. The most detailed interviews were carried out with the two senior divisionary chiefs whom I met on several occasions. Respecting wishes of privacy, I have changed personal details about their backgrounds and here call them Nana and Togbe, which is how chiefs are addressed in the Eastern and Volta Regions, where their traditional areas are located. ↵ 18. Peter Geschiere, Birgit Meyer, and Peter Pels, ‘Introduction’, in Peter Geschiere, Birgit Meyer, and Peter Pels (eds), Readings in Modernity in Africa (International African Institute, London, 2008), p. 3. ↵ 19. Eric Hobsbawn and Terence Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, NY, 1993); Piot, Remotely Global . ↵ 20. van Dijk and van Nieuwaal, ‘Introduction’.
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↵ 21. Kyed and Buur, ‘Introduction’, p. 23. ↵ 22. Lentz , ‘The chief, the mine captain and the politician’, pp. 46–67. ↵ 23. Bronwyn Davies and Rom Harré, ‘Positioning: the discursive production of selves’, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 20, 1 (1990), p. 62. ↵ 24. Nyamnjoh, ‘Chieftaincy and the negotiation of might and right’; Bob- Milliar, ‘Chieftaincy, diaspora, and development’, p. 543. ↵ 25. Boafo- Arthur, ‘Chieftaincy in Ghana’. ↵ 26. Ibid.; Bob- Milliar, ‘Chieftaincy, diaspora, and development’; Ubink, ‘Traditional authority revisited’. ↵ 27. Ibid. ↵ 28. Boafo- Arthur, ‘Chieftaincy in Ghana’; Lentz , ‘The chief, the mine captain and the politician’. ↵ 29. Interview, Eastern Region, 16 March 2008. ↵ 30. Interview, Accra, 5 June 2008. ↵ 31. Lentz , ‘The chief, the mine captain and the politician’. ↵ 32. Max Weber, ‘The types of legitimate domination’ in Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich (eds), Max Weber: Economy and Society. An outline of interpretive sociology (University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1978), p. 227. ↵ 33. Interview, Accra, 3 February 2010. PDFmyURL.com
↵ 34. Bob- Milliar, ‘Chieftaincy, diaspora, and development’, p. 544. ↵ 35. Indeed, when I discussed my research project with my interlocutors, almost everybody suggested that I speak with the Okyenhene. ↵ 36. See also Boafo- Arthur, ‘Chieftaincy in Ghana’. ↵ 37. Interview, Accra, 25 April 2008. ↵ 38. Interview, Accra, 18 January 2010. ↵ 39. See Zeller, ‘“Now we are a town”’; Lentz , ‘The chief, the mine captain and the politician’. ↵ 40. Interview, Accra, 4 June 2008. ↵ 41. Interview, Accra, 5 June 2008. ↵ 42. Bruce Berman and John Lonsdale, Unhappy Valley: Conflict in Kenya and Africa (James Currey, London, 1992), p. 9. ↵ 43. Pierre Bourdieu and Löic Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Polity Press, Cambridge, 1992). ↵ 44. Carola Lentz , ‘Home, death and leadership: discourses of an educated elite from north- western Ghana’, Social Anthropology 2, 2 (1994), pp. 149–69; Piot, Remotely Global ; Mohan, ‘Embedded cosmopolitanism’. However, as these authors have also shown, obligations are under constant negotiation and thus should not be perceived as static or all- encompassing. ↵ 45. Patrick Chabal, Africa: The politics of suffering and smiling (Zed Books, London and New York, NY, 2009), p. 80. PDFmyURL.com
↵ 46. The only exception was the Okyenhene – arguably the most powerful chief interviewed – who explained that he sees his office as a platform for speaking and being heard, rather than a personal sacrifice. ↵ 47. Lentz , ‘The chief, the mine captain and the politician’. ↵ 48. Bourdieu and Wacquant, An Invitation. ↵ 49. Giles Mohan, ‘Making neoliberal states of development: the Ghanaian diaspora and the politics of homelands’, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 26, 3 (2008), pp. 464–79; Kyed and Buur, ‘Introduction’. ↵ 50. Boafo- Arthur, ‘Chieftaincy in Ghana’; Alex B. Asiedu, Kwame A. Labi and Brempong Osei- Tutut, ‘An Asanteman- World Bank heritage development initiative in promoting partnership with Ghanaian traditional leaders’, Africa Today 55, 4 (2009), pp. 3–26. ↵ 51. See <environmentuniversity.edu.gh> (13 May 2010). ↵ 52. Interview, Accra, 3 February 2010. ↵ 53. With the exception of a paramount chief in the Northern Region, from where there are only few international migrants. ↵ 54. See also Richard Crook and Gideon Hosu- Porblev, ‘Transnational communities, policy processes and the politics of development: the case of Ghanaian hometown associations’ (NGPA Working Paper Series, 13 (2008), pp. 1–45); Mohan, ‘Embedded cosmopolitanism’; Valentina Maz z ucato and Mirjam Kabki, ‘Small is beautiful: the politics of transnational relationships between migrant hometown associations and communities back home’, Global Networks 9, 2 (2009), pp. 227–52. PDFmyURL.com
↵ 55. Another example is the Okyenhene. See Samuel Zan, ‘One nation, one people, one destiny? The Ghanaian diaspora's contribution to national development using diverse channels’ (Research study, SEND Foundation of West Africa, Accra, 2004), pp. 1–21. ↵ 56. Interview, Accra, 22 January 2010. ↵ 57. Ibid. ↵ 58. ‘The official website of His Royal Majesty King Tackie Tawiah III Ga Mantse King of Greater Accra’, Ghana, <www.kingtackietawiahiii.com> (13 May 2010). ↵ 59. For examples of how migrants negotiate power relationships to local and traditional authorities, see Mohan, ‘Embedded cosmopolitanism’; Nieswand, ‘Ghanaian migrants in Germany’; Maz z ucato and Kabki, ‘Small is beautiful’. ↵ 60. Telephone interview, Accra, 27 July 2008. ↵ 61. Nieswand, ‘Ghanaian migrants in Germany’. ↵ 62. Ibid. ↵ 63. Field notes, Eastern Region, 28 June 2008. ↵ 64. Chabal, Africa, p. 40. ↵ 65. See also Bob- Milliar, ‘Chieftaincy, diaspora, and development’; Marijke Steegstra, ‘“White” chiefs and queens in Ghana: personification of development’, in Odotei and Awedoba, Chieftaincy in Ghana, pp. 603–20.
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↵ 66. Interview, paramount chief, Volta Region, 8 May 2008. © The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal African Society. All rights reserved
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