Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:25:49.832Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Hybrid Authority of Sierra Leone’s Chiefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2017

Peter Albrecht
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

On the basis of a historical and ethnographic analysis, this article shows how the concept of hybridity can be used analytically to explore the emergence of paramount and lesser chiefs in Sierra Leone and their role as figures of authority at the local level and in national politics. At the same time, it critiques the ahistorical applications of the concept that are prevalent in peace and conflict studies. The article offers insight into the processes of hybridization that chiefs constitute, and are constituted by, as they draw on multiple sources of authority, including what one scholar calls their “extremely localized” sense of belonging, as well as the legislation of a centrally governed bureaucracy.

Résumé:

Sur la base d’une analyse historique et ethnographique, cet article montre comment le concept de l’ “hybridité” peut être utilisé analytiquement pour explorer l’émergence des chefs suprême et inférieurs en Sierra Leone ainsi que leur rôle comme figures d’autorité localement et dans la politique nationale. En même temps, il critique les applications historiques du concept qui est répandue dans les études sur la paix et la polémologie. L’article offre un aperçu du processus d’hybridation dont ils sont principalement constitués, en s’appuyant sur des sources multiples et autoritaires, y compris ce qu’un spécialiste appelle leur sentiment “extrêmement localisée” d’appartenance, ainsi que la législation d’une bureaucratie centralisée gouvernée.

Keywords

Sierra LeoneWest Africacolonialkinship and familyhybriditytraditional leaders
Type
ARTICLES
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 60 , Issue 3 , December 2017 , pp. 159 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abraham, Arthur. 1978. Mende Government and Politics under Colonial Rule: A Historical Study of Political Change in Sierra Leone 1890–1937. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Albrecht, Peter. 2005. “The Sierra Leonean State in 2005: Revisiting the Root Causes of the Conflict.” KAIPTC Paper no. 9. Accra: Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre.Google Scholar
Albrecht, Peter. “Betwixt and Between: Chiefs and Reform of Sierra Leone’s Justice Sector.” DIIS Working Paper 2010:33. Copenhagen: Danish Institute for International Studies. www.diis.dk.Google Scholar
Albrecht, Peter. 2012. Foundational Hybridity and Its Reproduction: Security Sector Reform in Sierra Leone. Ph.D. diss., Copenhagen Business School.Google Scholar
Albrecht, Peter. 2015. “The Chiefs of Community Policing in Rural Sierra Leone.” Journal of Modern African Studies 53 (4): 611–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albrecht, Peter. 2016. “Secrets, Strangers and Order-Making in Rural Sierra Leone.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 34 (4): 519–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albrecht, Peter, and Moe, Louise Wiuff. 2015. “The Simultaneity of Authority in Hybrid Orders.” Peacebuilding 3 (1): 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, Peter M. 1968. “The Stratigraphy of a Geosynclinal Succession in Western Sierra Leone, West Africa.” Geological Magazine 105: 62–73.Google Scholar
Anwyl, T. C. 1916. “The Timne and Other Tribes in Sierra Leone.” Journal of the Royal African Society 16 (61): 36–51.Google Scholar
Badie, Bertrand. 2000. The Imported State: The Westernization of the Political Order. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Barrows, Walter. 1976. Grassroots Politics in an African State: Integration and Development in Sierra Leone. New York: Africana Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Berry, Sara. 1993. No Condition Is Permanent: The Social Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Berry, Sara. 1998. “Stools Debts, Chieftaincy Disputes and the Question of Asante Constitutionalism.” The Journal of African History 39 (1): 39–62.Google Scholar
Bledsoe, Caroline. 1984. “The Political Use of Sande Ideology and Symbolism.” American Ethnologist 11 (3): 455–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boege, Volger. 2011. “Potentials and Limits of Traditional Approaches in Peacebuilding.” In Advancing Conflict Transformation: The Berghof Handbook II, edited by Austin, Beatrix et al., 431–57. Berghof: Berlin Research Centre.Google Scholar
Boege, Volger, et al. 2009. “Hybrid Political Orders, Not Fragile States.” Peace Review 21 (1): 13–21.Google Scholar
Bratton, Michael, and Walle, Nicholas Van de. 1994. “Neopatrimonial Regimes and Political Transitions in Africa.” World Politics 46 (4): 454–89.Google Scholar
Comaroff, Jean, and Comaroff, John L.. 1993. “Introduction.” In Modernity and Its Malcontents: Ritual and Power in Postcolonial Africa, edited by Comaroff, Jean and Comaroff, John L., xi–xxxvi. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Conciliation Resources. 2000. Paying the Price: The Sierra Leone Peace Process. London: Conciliation Resources.Google Scholar
Connerton, Paul. 1989. How Societies Remember. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cooper, Frederick. 1994. “Conflict and Connection: Rethinking Colonial African History.” American Historical Review 99: 1516–45.Google Scholar
Cooper, Frederick. 2002. Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Doyle, Michael. 1986. “Liberalism and World Politics.” American Political Science Review 80 (4): 1151–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, Stephen. 2010. “The Mutual Assimilation of Elites: The Development of Secret Societies in Twentieth Century Liberian Politics.” In The Powerful Presence of the Past: Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast, edited by Knörr, Jacqueline and Filho, Wilson Trajano, 185–204. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar
Englebert, Pierre. 2002. “Patterns and Theories of Traditional Resurgence in Tropical Africa.” Mondes en Développement 30: 118–51.Google Scholar
Government of Sierra Leone (GOSL). 1991. The Constitution of Sierra Leone. Freetown: Government of Sierra Leone.Google Scholar
Government of Sierra Leone (GOSL). 2004. The Local Government Act. Freetown: Government of Sierra Leone.Google Scholar
Fanthorpe, Richard. 1998. “Locating the Politics of a Sierra Leonean Chiefdom.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 68 (4): 558–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fanthorpe, Richard. 2001. “Neither Citizen nor Subject? ‘Lumpen’ Agency and the Legacy of Native Administration in Sierra Leone.” African Affairs 100 (400): 363–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fanthorpe, Richard. 2005. “On the Limits of Liberal Peace: Chiefs and Democratic Decentralization in Post-War Sierra Leone.” African Affairs 105 (418): 27–49.Google Scholar
Ferme, Mariane C., and Hoffman, Danny. 2004. “Hunter Militias and the International Human Rights Discourse in Sierra Leone and Beyond.” Africa Today 50 (4): 73–95.Google Scholar
Fulton, Richard M. 1972. “The Political Functions of Poro in Kpelle Society.” American Anthropologist 75 (5): 1218–33.Google Scholar
Hansen, Thomas B., and Stepputat, Finn. 2001. “Introduction: States of Imagination.” States of Imagination: Ethnographic Explorations of the Postcolonial State. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Hardin, Kris L. 1993. The Aesthetics of Action: Continuity and Change in a West African Town. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Hayward, Fred M., and Dumbuya, Ahmed R.. 1984. “Political Legitimacy, Political Symbols, and National Leadership in West Africa.” The Journal of Modern African Studies 21 (4): 645–71.Google Scholar
Herbst, Jeffrey. 2000. States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Herzfeld, Michael. 1992. The Social Production of Indifference: Exploring the Symbolic Roots of Western Bureaucracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hirsch, John L. 2001. “Sierra Leone: Diamonds and the Struggle for Democracy.” International Peace Academy Occasional Paper Series . Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Danny. 2007. “The Meaning of Militia: Understanding the Civil Defence Forces of Sierra Leone.” African Affairs 106 (425): 639–62.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, Kasper, and Kirk, Tom. “Public Authority and the Provision of Public Goods in Conflict-Affected and Transitioning Regions.” Justice and Security Research Programme Paper 7.Google Scholar
Højbjerg, Christian K. 2007. Resisting State Iconoclasm among the Loma of Guinea. Durham, N.C.: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Jackson, Paul B. 2005. “Chiefs, Money and Politicians: Rebuilding Local Government in Sierra Leone.” Public Administration and Development 25: 49–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keen, David. 2005. Conflict and Collusion in Sierra Leone. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Kilson, Martin. 1966. Political Change in a West African State: A Study of the Modernization Process in Sierra Leone. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kup, Alexander P. 1962. A History of Sierra Leone, 1400–1787. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kyed, Helene M., and Albrecht, Peter. “Introduction: Policing and the Politics of Order-Making on the Urban Margins.” In Policing and the Politics of Order-Making, edited by Albrecht, Peter and Kyed, Helene M., 1–23. Abingdon, U.K.: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kyed, Helene M., and Buur, Lars. 2007. “Introduction: Traditional Authority and Democratization in Africa.” In State Recognition and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa: A New Dawn for Traditional Authorities?, edited by Kyed, Helene M. and Buur, Lars, 1–28. New York: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Lemay-Hérbert, Nicolas, and Kühn, Florian. 2015. “Letter from the Editors: Taking the Hybridity Agenda Further.” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding 9 (1): 1–3.Google Scholar
Mac Ginty, Roger. 2010. “Hybrid Peace: The Interaction Between Top-Down and Bottom-Up Peace.” Security Dialogue 41 (4): 391–412.Google Scholar
Mac Ginty, Roger. 2011. International Peacebuilding and Local Resistance: Hybrid Forms of Peace. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Mamdani, Mahmood. 1996. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mbembe, Achille. 2001. On the Postcolony. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Medard, Jean-Francois. 1982. “The Underdeveloped State in Tropical Africa: Political Clientelism or Neo-Patrimonialism.” In Private Patronage and Public Power: Political Clientelism in the Modern State, edited by Clapham, Christopher, 162–92. London: Frances Printer.Google Scholar
Merry, Sally E. 1998. “Legal Pluralism.” Law and Society Review 22 (5): 869–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millar, Gearoid. 2014. An Ethnographic Approach to Peacebuilding: Understanding Local Experiences in Transitional States. Oxford: Routledge.Google Scholar
Minikin, Victor. 1973. “Indirect Political Participation in Two Sierra Leone Chiefdoms.” The Journal of Modern African Studies 11 (1): 126–35.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Timothy. 2006 [1999]. “Society, Economy, and the State Effect.” In The Anthropological State: A Reader, edited by Sharma, Aradhana and Gupta, Akhil, 169–86. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Moe, Louise W., and Albrecht, Peter. 2015. “Hybridity and Simultaneity in the Global South.” In Handbook of International Security and Development, edited by Jackson, Paul, 332–48. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Ntsebeza, Lungisile. 1999. Land Tenure Reform, Traditional Authorities and Rural Local Government in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Case Studies from the Eastern Cape. Cape Town: School of Government, University of Western Cape.Google Scholar
Omobowale, Ayokunle O., and Olutayo, Akinpelu O.. 2007. “Chief Lamidi and Patronage Politics in Nigeria.” Journal of Modern African Studies 45 (3): 425–46.Google Scholar
Paris, Roland. 2004. At War’s End: Building Peace after Civil Conflict. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Parson, Robert T. 1964. Religion in an African Society. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar
Peters, Krijn. 2006. Footpaths to Reintegration: Armed Conflict, Youth and the Rural Crisis in Sierra Leone. Ph.D. diss., Wageningen University.Google Scholar
Ray, Donald I. 1996. “Divided Sovereignty: Traditional Authority and the State in Ghana.” Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 28 (37–38): 181–202.Google Scholar
Reno, William. 1995. Corruption and State Politics in Sierra Leone. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Richards, Paul. 1996. Fighting for the Rain Forest: War, Youth and Resources in Sierra Leone. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Richards, Paul. 2005. “War as Smoke and Mirrors: Sierra Leone 1991–2, 1994–5, 1995–6.” Anthropological Quarterly 78 (2): 377–402.Google Scholar
Richmond, Oliver P. 2010. “Resistance and the Post-Liberal Peace.” Millennium Journal of International Studies 38 (3): 665–92.Google Scholar
Richmond, Oliver P. 2011. A Post-Liberal Peace. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Robbins, Joel, and Siikala, Jukka. 2014. “Hierarchy and Hybridity: Toward a Dumontian Approach to Contemporary Cultural Change.” Anthropological Theory 14 (2): 121–32.Google Scholar
Rummel, Rudolph J. 1997. Violence Kills: Democracy as a Method of Non-Violence. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transactions.Google Scholar
Santos, Boaventura de S. 2006. Towards a New Common Sense: Law, Science and Politics in the Paradigmatic Transition. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Sawyer, Edward. 2008. “Remove or Reform? A Case for (Restructuring) Chiefdom Governance in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone.” African Affairs 107 (428): 387–403.Google Scholar
Sayers, E. F. 1927. “Notes on the Clan or Family Names Common in the Area Inhabited by Temne-Speaking People.” Sierra Leone Studies 12: 14–108.Google Scholar
Selby, Jan. 2013. “The Myth of Liberal Peace-building.” Conflict, Security & Development 13 (1): 57–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sesay, Max A. 1995. “State Capacity and the Politics of Economic Reform in Sierra Leone.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 13 (2): 165–82.Google Scholar
Sesay, Mohamed G., and Hughes, Charlie. 2005. Go Beyond First-Aid: Democracy Assistance and the Challenge of Institution Building in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone. Clingendael, the Netherlands: Clingendael Institute.Google Scholar
Sesay, Shekou M. 1967. Transport in Relation to Social and Economic Development in Sierra Leone. Durham Theses, Durham University. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk.Google Scholar
Shaw, Rosalind. 2007. “Memory Frictions: Localizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 1 (2): 183–207.Google Scholar
Stepputat, Finn. 2013. “Contemporary Governscapes: Sovereign Practices and Hybrid Orders Beyond the Center.” In Local Politics and Contemporary Transformation in the Arab World: Governance Beyond the Center, edited by Bouziane, Malika, Harders, Cilja, and Hoffmann, Anja, 25–43. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Tangri, Roger. 1978. “Central–Local Politics in Contemporary Sierra Leone.” African Affairs 77 (307): 165–73.Google Scholar
van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal, Emile A. B. 1996. “States and Chiefs: Are Chiefs Mere Puppets?” Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law 28 (37–38): 39–78.Google Scholar
von Trotha, Trutz. 1996. “Administrative Chieftainship: Historical and Sociological Perspectives of the Development of Modern Chieftainship.” In Proceedings of the Conference on the Contribution of Traditional Authority to Development, Human Rights and Environmental Protection: Strategies for Africa. Leiden, the Netherlands: African Studies Centre.Google Scholar
Vaughan, Olufemi. 1995. “Politics and Community Development in Nigeria.” African Affairs 94 (377): 501–18.Google Scholar
Vaughan, Olufemi. 2003. Chiefs, Power, and Social Change: Chiefship and Modern Politics in Botswana, 1880s–1990s. Eritrea: Africa World Press.Google Scholar