Modern chiefs: Tradition, development and return among traditional authorities in Ghana

Abstract

Appointment of traditional authorities with an international migrant background has become an important trend in Ghana. Such ‘return chiefs’ are expected to bring development and modernization, but – as former international migrants – they are also seen as potentially estranged from local customs and realities. As presumed guardians of tradition, they are thus placed in a situation that poses a range of dilemmas of legitimacy and public authority. The article argues that return chiefs are in an ambivalent position between the domains of tradition and modernity and that they endeavour to overcome this dilemma through emphasizing their foundation in tradition as well as by using their professional and international experience to spur local development and modernize the chieftaincy institution. Return chiefs thus simultaneously practise and invoke the traditional and the modern. In this way, the transformation of chieftaincy is embedded in both local and global contexts. Return chiefs go beyond local customs to bring development and innovation to their areas, mobilizing international networks, touring European and North American countries, and collaborating with international development agencies, NGOs, and migrants. Their practices are thus at once local and global, and the article calls for inclusion of both perspectives in contemporary chieftaincy studies.