Chiefs do not talk law, most of them talk power.” Traditional authorities in conflicts over land grabbing in Ghana
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8735438 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sarah Kirst (Freie Universität, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 519-539 |
| Publication date | 2020-02-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0008-3968 • E-ISSN: 1923-3051 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00083968.2020.1719170 |
| OpenAlex | W3006734665 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 16 |
| References cited | 45 |
In the context of large-scale land deals in sub-Saharan Africa, social conflicts have increased. In many of these conflicts, traditional authorities are central actors. Whereas several studies highlight their significance as mediators in conflicts, their role as conflict actors is hardly considered. I address this lacuna by referring to a conflict around an agro-industrial project in Ghana. Using Steven Lukes’ three-dimensional power approach I demonstrate how preexisting hierarchies between traditional authorities are reinforced. I argue that these hierarchies are mostly insignificant for everyday land use practices but become relevant in conflict settings, allowing traditional authorities to reinterpret existing social orders and institutional arrangements with the aim to achieve territorial control. An interplay of different forms of power simultaneously prevents broad opposition of land users against traditional authorities while, in this way, contributing to indirect legitimization of traditional authorities, the underpinning of their authority and deepening social division
Agriculture · Context (archaeology · Geography · Land grabbing · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Social conflict · Social control · Sociology · Underpinning · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management · Engineering · Land Rights and Reforms · Law
“Survival Precedes Peace”
The land question in Botswana
Access politics in an emerging economy
Reflections on Chiefs as Ex Officio Members of the Land Boards, Botswana
Land tenure conflicts in Ghana and Zimbabwe
The Politics of Extractivism and Resistance in Contemporary Zimbabwe
Understanding actors' power through conflict dynamics
Gender, land grabbing and agrarian livelihoods
Land commodification, alienation and livelihoods of peri-urban farmers in Awutu Bereku, Ghana
The Limits of Participation Without Economic Justice in Peacebuilding
Land-based interactions and relationships in a pluralistic agrarian context
Perpetuating the malign legacy of colonialism? Traditional chiefs’ power and deforestation in Sierra Leone
Contesting large-scale land acquisitions in the Global South
Battle for legitimacy
Land use practices and farmer–herder conflict in Agogo
Bittersweet cocoa
Power
Property and Political Order in Africa
Negotiating property in Africa
Third World Political Ecology
No Condition Is Permanent
A New Weave of Power, People and Politics
On Democracy
From Administrative to Civil Chieftaincy
The Challenge of Global Governance of Land Grabbing
Customary land tenure practices in Ghana
How and why chiefs formalise land use in recent times
Neoliberal globalisation and evolving local traditional institutions
How to combine tradition and modernity? Regulating customary land management in Ghana
The role of chiefs in large-scale land acquisitions for jatropha production in Ghana
Land tenure regimes and state structure in rural Africa
Contextualising land grabbing
Global Land Grabbing and Political Reactions ‘From Below’
Conflicts over land and threats to customary tenure in Africa
Modern chiefs
In The Land of the Chiefs
Two Faces of Power
Is Land Inalienable? Historical and Current Debates on Land Transfers in Northern Ghana
Negotiated or Negated? The Rhetoric and Reality of Customary Tenure in an Ashanti Village in Ghana
Social institutions and access to resources
Indirect Rule-French and British Style
Rural 'Community', Chiefs and Social Capital
Policy Discourses on Women's Land Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa
New frontiers of land control
How not to think of land-grabbing
The politics ofJatropha-based biofuels in Kenya
Land Regimes and the Structure of Politics
Questions of Ownership
Struggles over Land and Authority in Africa
| Unique citing works | 16 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 16 |