Traditional Authorities

2012 ◽  
pp. 153-169
Author(s):  
Manfred O. Hinz
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Authorities

CHIEFTAINCY POLITICS AND COMMUNAL IDENTITY IN WESTERN NIGERIA, 1893–1951

2003 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
OLUFEMI VAUGHAN
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Communal Identity ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Strong Emphasis ◽  
Political Structures ◽  
Traditional Authorities ◽  
Indirect Rule

This article examines the dimensions of indigenous political structures that sustained local governance in colonial Yorubaland. Legitimated by reconstructed traditional political authorities and modern concepts of development, Yoruba indigenous political structures were distorted by the system of indirect rule. Conversely, obas (Yoruba monarchs), baales (head chiefs), chiefs, Western-educated Christian elites and Muslim merchants embraced contending interpretations of traditional authorities to reinforce and expand their power in a rapidly shifting colonial context. With a strong emphasis on development and governance, collective political action also entailed the struggle over the distributive resources of the colonial state. Traditional and modern political leaders deployed strong communal ideologies and traditional themes that defined competing Yoruba communities as natives and outsiders.

scholarly journals Perception of Non-migrant Communities to Geo-hazard Threats in the Mount Cameroon Volcanic Region

2020 ◽  
pp. 70-83
Author(s):  
Sunday Shende Kometa ◽  
Kang Edwin Mua
Keyword(s):  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Community Safety ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Cameroon Volcanic Line ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Volcanic Region ◽  
Mount Cameroon ◽  
Traditional Authorities ◽  
Migrant Households

Whilst the issue of migration has received widespread and international debates on the geometric number of people displaced daily from one region to another, the environmental unfriendliness, socio-economic and political situations have been accused for the progressive migrant trend in most parts of the world. Bearing in mind these unprecedented situations, the tendency had always been the decision to migrate or stay to cope with adverse situation. It is against these mix feelings that the study investigates the perception of non-migrant communities to geo-hazard threats along the Mount Cameroon Volcanic Line (CVL). The study made use of both primary and secondary sources of data. Interviews were conducted with some traditional authorities, officials of the Limbe Botanic Garden, government officials and municipal authorities on the environmental impacts associated with the decision of the non-migrants in vulnerable zones. From the interview conducted a representative survey of households was then undertaken to gather the opinion of non-migrant households within the geo-hazard environment. This was aided by the use of some 120 questionnaires distributed to on-spot households exposed to geo-hazards within the Mount Cameroon mobile region. 120 questionnaires were administered and distributed to 5 sampled communities using random a sampling technique. The Mount Cameroon Volcanic Region alongside the location of communities were mapped out using ArcGIS. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation results revealed that communities have strong perception of geo-hazards despite the threats. About 80% of the communities perceived the occurrence of such hazards as mixed blessings especially the associated benefits from fertile volcanic and alluvial soils as well as floodwaters in depressions used for agricultural activities. The study further states that the myths of households to geohazard occurrence kills the science and technology as well as the resilient strategies to such geo-hazards. While the socio-cultural mechanism remains a winding driver of on-spot location in hazard-prone zones, the future of community safety should not undermine human knack responses to geo-hazards. The study recommends proper planning and adaptive measures along this volcanic line such that the traditional and cultural myths of the communities should be integrated with the modern and technological structures to resist or minimize the effects of nature on the non-migrant communities within the flanks of the Cameroon Volcanic Line.

Disrupting polarized discourses: Can we get out of the ruts of environmental conflicts?

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 987-1005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloe Lucas ◽  
Russell Warman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Social Study ◽  
Recent Attempt ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Environmental Conflicts ◽  
Australian State ◽  
Traditional Authorities ◽  
Definition Of

Polarization in environmental conflicts obstructs decision making at all scales. The Australian state of Tasmania has a history of intense polarization around environmental issues. This article uses a social study of citizens of the capital, Hobart, and a case study of a recent attempt to disrupt polarization about forestry in Tasmania, to develop a novel conceptualization of ‘ruts’ in environmental conflicts. Ruts are formed when polarizing social constructs gain a momentum that perpetuates entrenched discourse coalitions and storylines into subsequent issues. This is evidenced in attitudinal survey results, and in interviews that show how storylines from the forestry debate frame people’s responses to climate change. The case study describes negotiations in the forestry conflict that had some success in disrupting these polarized discourses. After the long-term failure of the traditional authorities of government and science to resolve conflict over Tasmania’s forests, a sub-political process emerged to directly renegotiate a shared definition of risk. The study shows that new coalitions of players from outside traditional systems of authority have the potential to disrupt polarized discourses, through the creation of shared storylines. The challenge is to be prepared to acknowledge the legitimacy of divergent values, and to seek framings that sidestep, rather than confront strongly held conflicting values. Insights from this article are likely to be of value for other environmental conflicts, including climate change.

Customary Law and Communal Property in South Africa

2018 ◽  
pp. 127-151
Author(s):  
Juanita M. Pienaar
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
Land Rights ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Communal Property ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
Communal Areas ◽  
Traditional Authorities ◽  
Recent Policy

In the geographical areas forming the focus of this contribution, the traditional communal areas in former Bantustan and homeland areas in South Africa, communal ownership flows from the application of customary law, linked to the constitutional right to culture. Living customary law, embedded in communities, entails a dynamic system of land rights which are negotiated in line with particular needs. Recent policy and legislative developments, however, seem to bolster rights of traditional authorities, thereby impacting on land rights and effectively negating spontaneous negotiation. Conceptual clarification in this contribution embodies the complexity linked to communal property, specifically land, in light of the aftermath of apartheid, the commencement of an all-encompassing land reform programme and the operation of a dual legal system comprising customary law and Western-style legal paradigms. The challenges and opportunities for law reform are explored in this context of inter-connectedness of customary law and communal property.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Kutulas
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Baby Boomer ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Baby Boomer Generation ◽  
Traditional Authorities ◽  
The 1960S

This introduction sets up the argument that because traditional authorities lost power and centrality by the end of the 1960s, the popular culture became a more potent model for how individuals might live their lives. This was especially true of members of the baby boomer generation because of their numbers and life stages in the 1970s. While there was a backlash against the diversity and equality that were important features of this new society, most individual American lives changed because of the 1960s revolutions.

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