Project Details
Projekt
Mobility and Institutions of Intermediary Rule in Southern Africa
Subject Area
Empirical Social Research
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 441512655
The research project investigates the interrelation between institutions of rule and cross-border mobility. What effects do forms of mobility both new and old have on the ways in which power translates into rule? Which processes operative in the de-institutionalization of rule are associated with the cross-border mobility of diverse actors? How in their turn do institutions of rule influence mobility patterns and the immobilization of rulers and subjects? The research project focuses, first, on mobility in the Global South, particularly in Southern Africa, and second, on intermediary institutions of rule, especially chieftaincy. We argue that on the one hand, cross-border mobility may function as a breeding ground for the rise of intermediary forms of rule, while on the other hand, mobility represents a permanent challenge to the institutionalization of power. To achieve a better understanding of the interrelation between cross-border mobility and the institutionalization or de-institutionalization of intermediary rule, the project examines the institutional dynamics connected with the mobility displayed by chiefs and their subjects, and traces its conditions, trajectories and implications in the institutional field of rule.
DFG Programme
Research Units
