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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | British Administrators, Colonial Chiefs, and the Comfort of Tradition: An Example from Uganda |
Author: | Gartrell, Beverly |
Year: | 1983 |
Periodical: | African Studies Review |
Volume: | 26 |
Issue: | 1 |
Period: | March |
Pages: | 1-24 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Uganda |
Subjects: | indirect rule Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) colonialism History and Exploration |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/524608 |
Abstract: | During the years of colonial rule in Uganda, the British used a hierarchy of appointed Africans to carry out day-to-day administration. The degree of continuity between this imposed colonial structure and precolonial political systems differed greatly from one part of the Protectorate to another. The present study focuses on the way in which British colonial officials perceived the bases of authority of their subordinate African officials, or 'chiefs', in two areas - Lango and Teso - where the people were formerly chief-less. While British officials' perceptions of their chiefs fluctuated over time there was a widespread assumption that the wide powers wielded by the appointed chiefs were based on custom, even in formerly acephalous areas, and that the colonial appointees were in some sense representative of the Africans they ruled. This 'misperception' can be seen as part of a process of cognitive readjustment on the part of British colonial officials which was necessary to maintain the system of beliefs that legitimated to the officials themselves their position and actions. Notes, ref. |