Sitting on the Land

Abstract

Even in the broader African context, in which the chieftaincy has enjoyed a renaissance, the institution enjoys unusual power in Sierra Leone, where chiefs have strong representation and votes in national politics. Following more sedentary, land-based models of sovereignty in colonial times, the decade-long civil war saw the reemergence of alternative, more mobile models of the chieftaincy harkening back to precolonial times, in the face of massive population displacements. In the aftermath of war, when many chieftaincies were vacant, the possibility of replacing this hybrid hereditary-elected office with more democratic district councils was debated, but chiefs continue to be key members of these institutions, which rely on them for the collection of revenue and the administration of justice, particularly in rural areas. The chapter argues that the resurgence of this institution in sub-Saharan Africa is due to the ways in which chieftaincy stands for a more culturally legitimate form of decentralized governance, in contrast with the corrupt institutions of state governance. In Sierra Leone, the office’s continued identification with the local administration and allocation of land gives it renewed importance in the face of large-scale land deals with (and land grabs by) foreign investors. The expanding practice of conferring honorary chieftaincies to foreign agents of development contributes to the deterritorialization of the institution.