A poststructuralist approach to the Dagbon chieftancy crisis in Northern Ghana

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Periodical article

Title:	A poststructuralist approach to the Dagbon chieftancy crisis in Northern Ghana
Author:	Ahorsu, Ken
Year:	2014
Periodical:	African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review (ISSN 2156-7263)
Volume:	4
Issue:	1
Pages:	95-119
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ghana
Subjects:	Dagomba chieftaincy conflict social change
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/africonfpeacrevi.4.1.95
Abstract:	The intractable Dagbon Chieftaincy Crisis between the Andani and Abudu families for royal supremacy reflects the dilemma confronting the relevance of chieftaincy in Ghana in the context of social change. The paper offers a poststructuralist explanation for the succession disputes, political manipulations, and perennial violence that have contemporarily characterized the crisis. It posits that the sources and dynamics of the crisis are found in the dominant norms, values, traditions, and common history of the Dagbon state. They are located in the cross-generational structural continuities that are drawn upon and reproduced by purposive actors in strategic interdependence at both the local and national levels. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [Journal abstract]