Africana Periodical Literature 
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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | 'The backbone of the village': gender, development, and traditional authority in rural Zanzibar |
| Author: | Dean, Erin |
| Year: | 2013 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Contemporary African Studies (ISSN 0258-9001) |
| Volume: | 31 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 18-36 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Zanzibar |
| Subjects: | age grade systems gender authority NGO |
| External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02589001.2012.756618 |
| Abstract: | Recent processes of political decentralization and the parallel movements asserting indigenous identity and autochthony have led to a resurgence of academic interest in 'traditional' and local forms of leadership and authority. Based on ethnographic research on the 'hirimu' age-set system and related forms of traditional authority in the Zanzibari village of Jongowe, this article explores how these systems rooted in local history and identity are mitigated by contemporary national and international political circumstances. By examining how 'traditional' systems both create and circumscribe space for gendered expressions of power and how they work with the emerging forms of non-governmental organization characteristic of contemporary development, the article considers how these dynamic local systems of governance maintain their legitimacy through both association with the past and engagement with contemporary politics. It argues for an understanding of 'traditional authority' that expands beyond hereditary leadership positions, and suggests that such forms of power, though embedded in historical collective identity, are expressions of contemporary forms of governance. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |
