Overview

How are we to explain the resurgence of customary chiefs in contemporary Africa? Rather than disappearing with the tide of modernity, as many expected, indigenous sovereigns are instead a rising force, often wielding substantial power and legitimacy despite major changes in the workings of the global political economy in the post–Cold War era—changes in which they are themselves deeply implicated.   This pathbreaking volume, edited by anthropologists John L. Comaroff and Jean Comaroff, explores the reasons behind the increasingly assertive politics of custom in many corners of Africa. Chiefs come in countless guises—from university professors through cosmopolitan businessmen to subsistence farmers–but, whatever else they do, they are a critical key to understanding the tenacious hold that “traditional” authority enjoys in the late modern world. Together the contributors explore this counterintuitive chapter in Africa’s history and, in so doing, place it within the broader world-making processes of the twenty-first century.

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9780226510767

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Reviews

These essays surprise at every turn through their insistence that African chiefs do not merely survive today but are also thoroughly modern and global--savvy operators who strike deals with NGOs and capitalist corporations, entrepreneurs who raise money overseas, and rural sovereigns who marshal votes for national elections. Framed by a magisterial introduction by John L. and Jean Comaroff, the book provides a capacious view of a roiling political field in which neoliberal governance is enabling twenty-first-century African chiefs to usurp the role of the state that once brought them into being. --Charles Piot, Duke University These compelling and wide-ranging studies explore the staying power and apparently counter-intuitive resurgence of chiefship in Africa. Chiefs are multitaskers--and some are even criminals--but thousands of people hold them in high esteem. Through their popular appeal, they can make useful partners to global mining or telecommunications corporations: reciprocally, such partnerships can in turn help boost that popularity. Chiefs have clout because their role draws on sources of sovereignty that go beyond the conventional realm of politics to encompass kinship networks, ritual, business, and the global economy. This book shines new light on the interplay of tradition and modernity, showing that chiefship is neither wholly of the state nor of the customary, but always entangled with both. --Deborah James, London School of Economics The Politics of Custom is an incisive and original investigation of the stubbornly persistent role played by traditional authorities in modern Africa. Featuring a stellar cast of contributors and a superb synthetic introduction by the editors, this book is a major contribution that will appeal to a broad audience. --James Ferguson, Stanford University

Author Information

John L. Comaroff is the Hugh K. Foster Professor of African and African American Studies and of Anthropology and an Oppenheimer Fellow in African Studies at Harvard University. He is also an Affiliated Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation. Jean Comaroff is the Alfred North Whitehead Professor of African and African American Studies and of Anthropology and an Oppenheimer Fellow in African Studies at Harvard University.

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