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ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the complex relation between protracted donor interventions and the production of customary authority. More specifically, the paper analyses the impact of post-conflict donor interventions (and their withdrawal) on the position of customary chiefs in the Acholi region in northern Uganda. As important brokers between international aid agencies, the Ugandan government and Acholi communities, customary chiefs became key actors in post-conflict peacebuilding programmes. Using the concepts of extraversion and development brokerage, the paper demonstrates how dwindling access to external donor funds has strongly affected Acholi customary authority. To secure their authority and legitimacy, customary chiefs re-shifted from an ‘outward’ to an ‘inward’ orientation, a process that we call ‘introversion’
Acknowledgements
Research presented in this paper has been supported by ESRC GCRF grant number ES/P008038/1.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 Branch, “Gulu in war”; Displacing Human Rights; 2008; Allen, “Life beyond.”
2 Branch, Displacing Human Rights; Nibbe, The effects.
3 As discussed by Verweijen and Van Bockhaven in this special issue, both terms ‘customary' and ‘traditional' are inherently contested notions; this is not different for the Ugandan context (Quinn, “Tradition?!”). On the one hand, our choice for the term ‘customary authority' over ‘traditional authority' is informed by the literature on the ‘artificial’ character of so-called traditional practices in post-conflict northern Uganda (Allen “The ICC”; Quinn, “Tradition?!”). On the other hand, we opt not to choose the terms ‘traditional' or ‘cultural' as used in the Ugandan constitution since they automatically go together with a sharp dissociation with politics and the state (which is contradicted by reality). When talking about contemporary customary chiefs, we use the Acholi term ‘rwot' (plural: rwodi).
4 We use the term ‘local communities', as is used by rwodi themselves talking about their clan members, also referred to as ‘their people' or ‘their subjects’.
5 Finnström, Living with bad surroundings; Dolan, Social Torture; Branch, “Exploring the roots”; Komujuni, To be a Chief.
6 Dolan, Social Torture; Branch, Displacing Human Rights.
7 Bayart, “Africa in the world.”
8 Bierschenk et al., “Local development brokers.”
9 Bayart, “Africa in the World.”
10 This article builds on data from the PhD dissertation (Komujuni ; To be a Chief), based on 12 months of fieldwork for which additional methods such as life histories and individual trajectories of several rwodi have been used.
11 Mac Ginty, “International Peacebuilding.”
12 The term customary authority refers in this article to a specific form of public authority, which explicitly positions itself within the register of ‘custom', ‘culture' and ‘tradition’.
13 Quinn, “Tradition?!”; Paine, “A Re-invention.”
14 Lund, “Twilight Institutions.”
15 Mamdani, Citizen and Subject; Lawrance et al., Intermediaries.
16 Buur and Kyed, “Contested Sources”; Vaughan, Tradition and Politics in Hoffmann & Vlassenroot in this issue.
17 Leonardi, “Dealing with Government.”
18 Hoffmann and Kirk, “Public Authority”; Ibreck & Pendle, “Customary Protection?”
19 Lewis and Mosse, Development Brokers.
20 Bierschenk et al., “Local development brokers”; Oomen, Chiefs; Williams, Chieftaincy.
21 Kyed and Buur, “State Recognition”; Mapedza, “Traditional Authority”.
22 Peiffer and Englebert, “Extraversion,” 361.
23 Hagmann, Stabilization.
24 Kelsall, “Going with the Grain.”
25 Hagmann and Péclard, “Negotiating Statehood”; Hofmann& Kirk, “Public Authority.”
26 Hopwood, “Elephants”; Allen and Macdonald, “Postconflict.”
27 Comaroff and Comaroff, The Politics of Custom.
28 Kapidžić, “Public Authority,” 128.
29 For an extensive overview of history, see Komujuni, To be a Chief.
30 Atkinson, The Roots.
31 Amone and Muura, “British Colonialism”; Atkinson, The Roots; MacDonald, “From the ground.”
32 Laruni, “From the Village”; Paine, A Re-invention.
33 Atkinson, The Roots.
34 Paine, A Re-invention.
35 Mamdani, Citizen.
36 Hopwood, “Elephants.”
37 For an analysis of the violent conflicts in northern Uganda, see: Allen and Vlassenroot, The LRA.
38 For a detailed analysis, see Komujuni, To be a Chief.
39 Branch, “Humanitarianism.”
40 Dolan, Social Torture.
41 ARLPI (Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative) staff member, Gulu, December 2017.
42 Huyse and Salter, Traditional Justice; Oosterom, “The effects.”
43 Dolan, Social Torture; Chief of Pawel, Gulu, May 2015; Rwot of Patiko, Patiko, June 2015.
44 Rwot of Pawel, Gulu, May 2015.
45 Adelman and Peterman, “Resettlement”; Hopwood, “Land Conflict”; Hopwood and Atkinson, “Land Conflict Monitoring.”
46 Rwot of Lamogi, Gulu, May 2015; Rwot of Patiko, Patiko, June 2015.
47 Baines, “The Haunting”; KKA staff member, December 2017; rwot of Koro, Augus 2016.
48 Branch, “Gulu,” 3157.
49 Paine, “Images”.
50 Pain, “The Bending”.
51 Ibid., 76.
52 Ibid., 77.
53 Ibid., 36–7.
54 Traditional reconciliation ceremony in which the offended and the offender drink a concoction of bitter herbs with leaves from “oput” tree, symbolising the willingness to reconcile among conflicting communities and acceptance of responsibility for the crime one is being accused of.
55 Allen, “The ICC”; “From the Ground”.
56 Mac Ginty and Richmond, “The Local Turn.”
57 Former staff member ACORD, Gulu, April 2015.
58 Spokesperson Pagea chiefdom, Gulu, December 2017; NGO forum staff, Gulu, September 2016; Researcher, Gulu, December 2017.
59 Paine, A Re-invention; own observations.
60 Rwot of Pagek, Gulu, July 2016.
61 Paine, A Re-invention.
62 Deputy Prime Minister, KKA, Gulu, August 2016; Rwot of Pageya, Mican village in Bardege, December 2017; Rwot of Pagak, Gulu, July 2016; interview with an elder in Koro, April 2015.
63 See also Hopwood, “Elephants”; Paine, A Re-invention.
64 Büscher et al., “Humanitarian Urbanism.”
65 Ex KKA staff, Gulu, August 2016; Paine, “Images”.
66 KKA staff member, Gulu, August, 2016.
67 Branch, “Gulu”; Nibbe, The Effects.
68 ACORD staff member; JRP and GWED-G staff member, Gulu, July 2016; Director World Vision, Gulu, September 2016.
69 KKA staff member, Gulu, August, 2016.
70 Bierschenk et al., “Local Development Brokers.”
71 Ibid., 17.
72 Rwot Otinga, Gulu, August 2016.
73 Schiltz and Büscher, “Brokering.”
74 Cornwall, “Buzzwords.”
75 Mac Ginty and Richmond, “The local turn.”
76 Mapedza, “Traditional Authority”; Kyed and Buur, “State Recognition.”
77 Paine, A Re-invention; Büscher et al., “Humanitarian Urbanism.”
78 Clan elder Pagea, Gulu, December 2017.
79 Catholic Priest, Gulu, June 2015.
80 Focus Group discussion with elders of Pageya chiefdom, December 2017.
81 Director NGO Forum, Gulu, August 2016.
82 Government coordinated framework through which development support is channelled to northern Uganda (2008-today).
83 Büscher et al., “Humanitarian Urbanism.”
84 NGO forum staff, Gulu July 2016; KKA staff, Gulu, September, 2016; Interview two rwodi, July 2016 and August 2016.
85 See Sam Lawino, “Acholi king in trouble over Shs230m donor fund”, Daily Monitor, 2 December 2013. http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Acholi-king-in-trouble-over-Shs230m-donor-fund/688334-2095108-qf6gwiz/index.html (accessed 2 March 2018).
86 KKA Prime minister, Gulu, July, 2016.
87 Several interviews with KKA staff members, December 2017.
88 KKA staff, Gulu, August 2016.
89 ARLP staff member, Gulu, December 2017.
90 Described in detail as one of the extended cases in Komujuni, To be a Chief.
91 It is not entirely clear to which ‘past' they are referring to, presumably going back to their pre-colonial position, when their ‘subjects' would work for them.
92 Buur and Kyed, “Contested Sources.”
93 Paine, A re-invention; Allen, “The ICC.”
94 Nibbe describes in detail the origins and construction of this humanitarian narrative in Northern Uganda, symbolising the particular NGO focus on children as victims of the LRA war (Nibbe, The effects).
95 Nibbe, The Effects.
96 Atkinson et al., “Instituting”.
97 Kapidžić, “Public Authority.”
98 Hopwood and Atkinson, “Land Conflict Monitoring,” 61.
99 Atkinson et al., “Instituting”; Hopwood and Atkinson, “Land Conflict Monitoring.”
100 Ibid.
101 Ibid., 17.
102 Peiffer and Englebert, “Extraversion.”
103 Hopwood, “Elephants”.
104 Prime Minister, KKA, Gulu, July, 2016.
105 Englebert, “Patterns”; Goodfellow and Lindemann, “The clash.”
106 Paine, A Re-invention.
107 KKA Prime Minister, Gulu, July 2016.
108 Deputy Prime Minister KKA, Gulu, December 2017.
109 Büscher et al., “Humanitarian Urbanism.”
110 Rwot (anonymous), Gulu, August 2016; KKA staff, September 2016.
111 ARLPI staff, Gulu, December 2017; Rwot of Pawel Unyama sub-county, December 2017; KKA spokesperson, December 2017.
112 See MinBane blog, “First day of Presidential Rallies in Uganda”, 9 November 2015. https://minbane.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/httpwp-mep1xtjg-14i/ (accessed 27 December 2019). Julius Ocungi, “Chief rallies for Museveni after car gift”, Daily Monitor, 9 November 2015. http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Chief-rallies--Museveni-car-gift/688334-2948234-1bam18/index.html (accessed 2 March 2018).
113 Atkinson et al., “Instituting.”
114 For a detailed thick description of the festival, see Komujuni, To be a Chief.
115 Nibbe, The Effects.
116 Oosterom, “The effects.”
117 Prime Minister KKA, Gulu, July, 2016; Program coordinator KKA, Gulu, August 2016. See also Girling, The Acholi.
118 Focus group elders in Koro Abili village, August 2016
119 Branch, “Gulu.”
120 LC1, anonymous, September 2016.
121 As Hofmann and Kirk, “Public Authority.”
122 Omoro community member, Omoro, August 2016.
123 Focus Group Discussion community members, Omoro, July 2016.
124 For a further analysis on land as a political resource for customary leaders, see Hopwood and Atkinson, “Land Conflict Monitoring”; Komujuni, To be a Chief.
125 Informal talks rwot of Pawel, Loyo boo, December 2017.
126 KKA staff member, December 2017; described in detail in Paine, “A Re-invention” and Komujuni, To be a Chief.
127 Rwot of Pageya, December 2017.
128 Albrecht, “The Hybrid Authority”; Zeller, “Now we are”; Van Binsbergen, “Nkoya”.
129 Hoffmann and Kirk, “Public Authority,” 32.
130 Buur and Kyed, “Contested Sources.”
131 Branch, “Exploring the Roots.”
132 Büscher et al., “Humanitarian Urbanism.”