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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Chief, the Mine Captain and the Politician: Legitimating Power in Northern Ghana
Author:Lentz, CarolaISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:Africa: Journal of the International African Institute
Volume:68
Issue:1
Pages:46-67
Language:English
Geographic term:Ghana
Subjects:legitimacy
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Politics and Government
Labor and Employment
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1161147
Abstract:This article explores the strategies of acquiring and legitimating power in Ghana, taking the example of three 'big men' from the north, a paramount chief, a mine captain at Ashanti Goldfields Corporation, and a politician in the making. After offering some observations on the recent public debate on corruption and the (im)morality of power and 'bigness' in Ghana, the article outlines the biographies of these three 'big men' and analyses how they skilfully combine different registers of power - economic, 'traditional' and 'modern' political - in order to achieve 'bigness'. It then analyses the strategies of legitimation and grounds of moral judgement which depend, at least to a certain degree, on the particular relationship of the 'judge' with the 'big man' in question. The article concludes by discussing the common 'grammar' that seems to regulate the debates on 'bigness', morality and interest. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French.
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