Performing Royalty in Contemporary Africa

Abstract

Sovereignty and governance in contemporary Africa are hotly contested issues with important-even dire-consequences for all those interested in the continent's markets, resources, people, and welfare. This article focuses not on questions of how authority is assigned or removed, but on how it is shaped, worn, and performed for diverse audiences, particularly in the arena of "traditional governance." To do so, we juxtapose two ritual celebrations, in two distinct monarchies in southern Africa, to show contemporary traditional leaders engaged in cultural displays in their own contexts, and in contrast with each other's. First, we describe the formal enthronement of Kgosi (or King, as most Bafokeng translate it) Leruo Molotlegi of the Bafokeng Nation in South Africa in August 2003. We then follow Kgosi Leruo one year later, literally and ethnographically, on an official visit to King Mswati III of Swaziland for the traditional Reed Dance ceremony (umhlanga). Here, the Bafokeng "ethnic corporation" meets Africa's last absolute monarchy in a juxtaposition of styles, symbols, and strategies that illuminates the difference between an aesthetic of defiant African alterity and an Afromodern capitalist cosmopolitanism.In chronicling the meeting of these two men, whose roles as royals have developed under very different political and economic circumstances, we examine their disparate choices for self-presentation and political ceremony in order to show

Neotraditional authority contested: the corporatization of tradition and the quest for democracy in the Topnaar Traditional Authority, Namibia

“…Since the turn of the century, the literature not only on neotraditional-cum-corporate ventures but also on the interdependence of tradition, capital and the state has proliferated (see, for example, Capps 2016; Comaroff and Comaroff 2009; 2018; Cook 2005; 2011; 2018; Cook and Hardin 2013; Rata 2011). This perspective goes beyond analysing the relationship between the state and neotraditional leadership to explore global forces such as the rise of neoliberal capitalism.…”

Royal pharmaceuticals: Bioprospecting, rights, and traditional authority in South Africa

“…Embodying “Afromodern capitalist cosmopolitanism” (Cook and Hardin ), the Spur Steak Ranches restaurant is a ritual space where indigenous aesthetics emanating from the United States undergird Mavuso's performance of royalty. The encounter illustrates how “African traditional leaders look to the geographic, economic, and discursive West for capital, credibility, and consumption of goods and services” (Cook and Hardin , 228).…”

“…Embodying “Afromodern capitalist cosmopolitanism” (Cook and Hardin ), the Spur Steak Ranches restaurant is a ritual space where indigenous aesthetics emanating from the United States undergird Mavuso's performance of royalty. The encounter illustrates how “African traditional leaders look to the geographic, economic, and discursive West for capital, credibility, and consumption of goods and services” (Cook and Hardin , 228). It also affirms that traditional leaders invoke “a notion of ‘tradition’ that is not only distinctively modern and plural but is actively being created and negotiated within the wider national and sub‐Saharan political audience and with their ‘own’ presumed subjects” (Koelble and LiPuma , 6).…”

“…Explosions in rights consciousness, transnational capitalist investment, ethnic incorporation, and the durability of traditional authority are profoundly linked phenomena in South Africa (Comaroff and Comaroff ; Cook ; Cook and Hardin ; Manson ; Oomen ; Robins ). An examination of Pelargonium in the Ciskei reinforces this finding, while highlighting less explored features of it.…”

“…Much of this scholarship has focused on platinum mining in the South African provinces of KwaZulu‐Natal (Oomen ; J. M. Williams ) and North West (Comaroff and Comaroff ; Cook ; Cook and Hardin ; Manson ).…”