ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how the notion of hybridization can be used to structure analytically the processes by which and figures around which the authority to govern rural Sierra Leone are assembled. It suggests that the concept of hybridization is generally applicable to the institution of the chieftaincy across Sub-Saharan Africa. The chapter provides a historical overview of the emergence of chiefs in rural Sierra Leone and compares it to its occurrence elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that, through processes of hybridization, the basis of authority of existing local leaders were shaped by, but also shaped, the distribution of power within colonial and post-colonial state institutions. The historical analysis serves as a backdrop to the chapter’s case study from contemporary rural Sierra Leone, which demonstrates how chiefs in Peyima both generate authority and are challenged by what Richard Fanthorpe calls “extremely localised” claims to status and entitlement.
