CfP: ‘Urban Chieftaincy: Exploring the roles of traditional authorities in the contemporary urban African contexts, Panel at the African Centre for Cities International Urban Conference
Call for Panellists
In
the African context, research on traditional authorities has
historically focused on cultural and political influence of these
leaders as guardians of tribal customs and laws. Scholarly treatment of
traditional leadership has often been framed in the context of rural
development or colonial history (Beall et al 2005; Buur and Kyed 2007).
This discourse has looked at traditional authorities in relation to the
new political systems and administrative architectures of the post
independent African state (Logan 2008; Logan 2009; Goodfellow and
Lindemann 2013). However, in the 21st century as African cities rapidly
expand their geographical and administrative footprints, traditional
authorities have traversed the rural boundary and have become
significant actors in urban spaces. Given the scale and pace of
urbanisation on the African continent, the role of traditional
authorities in the urban context has been given insufficient attention.
Traditional authorities in the form of Kings, Oba, Kgosi, chiefs, Ohene, Amakhosi - all
play a critical role in the physical development of urban spaces. The
wide array of social and cultural contexts across the African continent
requires scholars to pay attention to similarities and differences in
how traditional authorities operate both within and outside of urban
environments. This panel will seek to interrogate the ways traditional
authorities operate in and influence the growth of urbanizing centres. A
focus will be on examining the formal and informal roles of traditional
authorities in the distribution of resources such as land and the
changing landscape of governance. It will also encourage discussion on
the extent to which these authorities have been incorporated into
administrative structures and the ways that this supports or frustrates
urban development.
We welcome papers focusing on different cities
on the African continent from diverse disciplinary, theoretical and
methodological perspectives.This call is for panellists offering papers
on the following areas of traditional authorities in urban centres:
· Citizen perceptions of chiefs in urban and peri-urban areas;
· The role of chiefs in the governance of administrative territories;
· The role of chiefs in urbanization;
· The influence of chiefs in urban public life
· Traditional leadership and public participation at the city scale
The panel proposal will include papers followed by a roundtable discussion and questions from the audience.
1) The focus: Themes, underlying hypothesis, empirical and/or theoretical basis, structure of the paper
2) Word count: 300-500 words.
3)
Contact information of the author(s): Name(s), affiliation(s), address
(including postcode), a phone number (will not be made public) and an
e-mail address
Please direct questions about this call to Ntombini Marrengane
Contact Info:
Ntombini Marrengane
African Centre for Cities
University of Cape Town
Contact Email: