Self-justice and legal self-help groups have been gaining importance throughout Africa. The question of who is entitled to formulate 'legal principles', enact 'justice', police 'morality' and sanction 'wrongdoings' has increasingly become a subject of controversy and conflict. These conflicts focus on the strained relationship between state sovereignty and citizens' self-determination. More particularly, they concern the conditions, modes and means of the legitimate execution of power, and in this volume are seen as a diagnostics as to how social actors in Africa debate and practise socio-political order. State agencies try to bring vigilante groups under control by channelling their activities, repressing them, or using them for their own interests. Vigilante groups usually must struggle for recognition and acceptance in local socio-political spheres. As several of the contributions in the volume show, legal self-help groups in Africa therefore 'domesticate' themselves by, among other things, seeking legitimation, engaging in publicly acceptable non-vigilante activities, or institutionalizing what often began as a rather unrestrained and 'disorderly' social movement. Thomas G. Kirsch is Professor et Chair of Social et Cultural Anthropology at the University of Constance, Germany; Tilo Grätz is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Hamburg, Germany et Associate Lecturer at the University of Halle-Wittenberg

lgli/Kirsch&Gratz_00 Prelims - Kate Kirkwood (1).pdf

lgrsnf/Kirsch&Gratz_00 Prelims - Kate Kirkwood (1).pdf

Domesticating vigilantism in Africa : South Africa, Nigeria, Bénin, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso

edited by Thomas G. Kirsch & Tilo Grätz

Grätz, Tilo

Boydell et Brewer

Woodbridge, Suffolk, Rochester, N.Y, England, 2010

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

{"isbns":["1847010288","9781847010285"],"last_page":192,"publisher":"James Currey","source":"libgen_rs"}

Includes bibliographical references and index.

An unprecedented overview of anthropological and political science research on vigilantism in Africa which makes an important and innovative contribution to current discussions on the relationship between violent self-justice andstate and non-state agencies.Self-justice and legal self-help groups have been gaining importance throughout Africa. The question of who is entitled to formulate'legal principles', enact'justice', police'morality'and sanction'wrongdoings'has increasingly become a subject of controversy and conflict. These conflicts focus on the strained relationship between state sovereignty and citizens'self-determination. More particularly, they concern the conditions, modes and means of thelegitimate execution of power, and in this volume are seen as a diagnostics as to how social actors in Africa debate and practise socio-political order. State agencies try to bring vigilante groups under control by channelling their activities, repressing them, or using them for their own interests. Vigilante groups usually must struggle for recognition and acceptance in local socio-political spheres. As several of the contributions in the volume show, legal self-help groups in Africa therefore'domesticate'themselves by, among other things, seeking legitimation, engaging in publicly acceptable non-vigilante activities, or institutionalizing what often began as a rather unrestrained and'disorderly'social movement. Thomas G. Kirsch is Professor & Chair of Social & Cultural Anthropology at the University of Constance, Germany; Tilo Grätz is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Hamburg, Germany & Associate Lecturer at the University of Halle-Wittenberg.

Self-justice and legal self-help groups have been gaining importance throughout Africa. The question of who is entitled to formulate 'legal principles', enact 'justice', police 'morality' and sanction 'wrongdoings' has increasingly become a subject of controversy and conflict. These conflicts focus on the strained relationship between state sovereignty and citizens' self-determination. More particularly, they concern the conditions, modes and means of the legitimate execution of power, and in this volume are seen as a diagnostics as to how social actors in Africa debate and practise socio-political order. State agencies try to bring vigilante groups under control by channelling their activities, repressing them, or using them for their own interests. Vigilante groups usually must struggle for recognition and acceptance in local socio-political spheres. As several of the contributions in the volume show, legal self-help groups in Africa therefore 'domesticate' themselves by, among other things, seeking legitimation, engaging in publicly acceptable non-vigilante activities, or institutionalizing what often began as a rather unrestrained and 'disorderly' social movement. Thomas G. Kirsch is Professor et Chair of Social et Cultural Anthropology at the University of Constance, Germany; Tilo Grätz is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Hamburg, Germany et Associate Lecturer at the University of Halle-Wittenberg

Vigilantism, State Ontologies & Encompassment : An Introductory Essays / Thomas G. Kirsch & Tilo Grätz -- Domesticating Sovereigns : The Changing Nature Of Vigilante Groups In South Africa / Lars Buur -- Ethnicity, Religion & The Failure Of Common Law / Johannes Harnischfeger -- Devi & His Men : The Rise And Fall Of A Vigilante Movement In Benin / Tilo Grätz -- Vigilantes In War : Boundary Crossing Of Hunters In Burkina Faso & Côte D'ivoire / Sten Hagberg & Syna Ouattara -- Bodies Of Power : Narratives Of Selfhood & Security In Nigeria / David Pratten -- Violence In The Name Of Democracy : Community Policing, Vigilante Action & Nation-building In South Africa / Thomas G. Kirsch. Edited By Thomas G. Kirsch & Tilo Grätz. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.

Frontcover
CONTENTS
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
FOREWORD
Vigilantism, State Ontologies & Encompassment, An Introductory Essay
1 Domesticating Sovereigns: The Changing Nature of Vigilante Groups in South Africa
2 Ethnicity, Religion & the Failure of ‘Common Law’ in Nigeria
3 Dévi & his Men: The Rise & Fall of a Vigilante Movement in Benin
4 Vigilantes in War: Boundary Crossing of Hunters in Burkina Faso & Côte d’Ivoire
5 Bodies of Power: Narratives of Selfhood & Security in Nigeria
6 Violence in the Name of Democracy: Community Policing, Vigilante Action & Nation-Building in South Africa
INDEX
Backcover

2024-01-03