Politicization, Elite Manipulation, or Institutional Weaknesses? The Search for Alternative Explanations to the Dagbon Chieftaincy Disputes in Northern Ghana

Anamzoya, Alhassan Sulemana

doi:10.4314/rrias.v24i1.22974

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Due to internal power struggle that has ravaged the kingdom for more than a century, a lot of intellectual energy is expended in analyzing the dispute popularly referred to in literature as the Dagbon Skin Affairs or the Dagbon Chieftaincy Crises (Sibidow, 1969;Ladouceur, 1972;Staniland, 1975;Mahama, 1987;Anamzoya, 2008). Whilst all these previous studies are various analyses over the struggle for authority (naam), none of these has paid attention to naam, as a traditional authority, especially the naam making process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

<i>Naam</i> Making in Dagbon and the Legitimation of Traditional Authority

Anamzoya¹,

Gariba²

2022

JSS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper focuses on the "naam" making processes-or the installation of chiefs and the investiture of the king-which has been neglected by scholars writing about the Dagbon chieftaincy in the Northern Region of Ghana. Rather, scholars have paid attention to the internal chieftaincy disputes that have bedeviled the kingdom for about a century now. Using content analysis and in-depth interviews with selected chiefs, their elders, kingmakers, and drum historians of the Dagomba in the Northern region of Ghana, this paper provides an analysis of king making as well as chief making process. The paper argues that whilst chieftaincy as an institution could be sociologically considered non-rational, successful "naam" making legitimates the chieftaincy institution enabling its actors (the chiefs) to interact with modern state institutions.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%