Paper short abstract:

The paper investigates the meaning and conditions of free speech through the figure of a grandfather whose popular programmes on Breeze FM, Zambia, deploy allusive language and hierarchical demeanour to address listeners' problems.

Paper long abstract:

So obvious is the value of free speech that it discourages careful investigation of its genres and conditions in practice. This paper embarks on such an investigation by exploring the meaning and practice of free speech under the conditions of widespread poverty and socio-economic inequality. Breeze FM in Zambia's Eastern Province is a privately owned radio station that combines in its broadcasting ethos principles of public service, commercial gain and community empowerment. A central interest for the paper is how the value of free speech comes to assume different forms and consequences within these contradictory principles. An emphasis on connecting to the public through their SMS messages, typically lending itself to the statistical analysis of public opinion, contrasts, for example, with the allusive language and hierarchical demeanour deployed by the station's most popular presenter, Gogo Breeze. A grandfather figure involved in several programme formats, he interacts with his audience both on and off the air by responding to grievances, telling stories, explaining esoteric phrases and interviewing the common people. The paper follows his voice as it traverses these different programmes and mediates listeners' experiences of poverty and injustice. His hierarchical, if affectionate, status as the grandfather reserves to himself the ultimate access to judgment and good opinion. In this context, free speech resides less in the efforts to give the poor 'a voice' as their individual, unmediated property than in creating the conditions for moral authority within which grievances can be recognised and addressed.

Paper short abstract:

This paper inquires into the existence of "a religious imperative" of political participation in Senegal. It seeks to trace the paths of engagement and participation of young Sufi Muslim who invest in the public and political arenas on account of the religious allegiance they made to their religious leader.

Paper long abstract:

This paper seeks to contribute to the renewal of analysis on practices of participation in African societies, in a context of more intricate decentralization and democratic governance injunctions developed by international development policies. To that extent, this proposal focus on the social contours of participation in a long-term existing participatory arena that is religious field in Senegal. Inquiring into the existence of what can be defined as "a religious imperative" of political participation, I will trace the paths of engagement and participation of young Sufi Muslim who invest in the public and political arenas on account of the religious allegiance they made to their religious leader (Sheikh).

This proposal intends to enhance the understanding of charismatic leadership in Senegal straddling religious and political spheres. This study will focus on the case of Cheikh Bethio Thioune and his followers who manage to gain visibility on the public scene developing a new type of legitimacy based on both capacity of social mobilization and charismatic recognition by the youth. They have been very active on the public scene especially during the 2007 and 2012 presidential elections due to the negotiations for their political support to former President Wade. This will allow us to reconsider the "Senegalese social contract" (O'Brien) describing how religion and politics are closely intertwined in Senegal since the colonial period defining the terms and effects of political participation shaped by social and religious dynamics.

Paper short abstract:

The paper inquires into negotiations of authority between members and leaders of mining unions in Zambia. Analysing miners’ support of and opposition to union officials it will discuss different principles of leadership and show how members’ criticism puts pressure on leaders to be more accountable.

Paper long abstract:

While many studies on authority in Africa have been focusing on traditional and personalist grounds for legitimacy this presentation will explore relations of authority, which are not predominantly structured by ethnicity or clientelism, but a number of different norms and constraints. Using the case study of three miners' unions in the Zambian Copperbelt it will discuss the circumstances under what members do or do not support union representatives. I argue that members' criticism and their contestation of the union's authority lead to more rational-legal accountability on the one hand while at the same time yielding personalist relationships between members and leaders.

Many miners seem to contest the authority of the union leadership in Zambia, indicated by a series of wildcat strikes in 2011-12, insults and threats against representatives, and the formation of splinter unions. Miners see a gap between their normative expectations (legitimacy beliefs) and the behavior of union officials, which causes distrust on both sides. Confronted with accusations from the members union officials take efforts to become listening leaders, while at the same time facing constraints when trying to put the ideal principles of leadership into practice. Representatives not only bow to the demands of their members, but also to pressure from the companies, the government, and the value of "industrial harmony". Exploring the multiple ideas and practices of authority emerging from the reciprocal exertion of power between union members and leaders will be the aim of this paper.

Paper short abstract:

History recounts Katangan citizenship claims as an elitist and colonial view. New research examines that the religious sphere and print material were locations for the development of a belief in a Katangan citizenship between future leaders and local citizens 20 years before Congolese independence.

Paper long abstract:

The cry for citizenship in Katanga (southern DRC) is a historically under-researched concept. Much of the history recounts Katangan citizenship claims and the nationalist movement as unpopular and an elitist and colonial view. However, new research examines the idea that the religious sphere and the spread of local printed material were prominent locations for the discussion and formation of an idea in a separate Katangan citizenship, years before Congolese independence was discussed at provincial levels.

This paper examines how the population of colonial Katanga found spaces and outlets for discussions of citizenship in the early 1930s and 1940s. Based on fieldwork conducted between October 2011 and May 2013, this paper highlights the use of religious spaces and locally printed materials as an area for the creation of a Katangan citizenship and support for the local regional authority. It examines personal dialogue between local citizens, religious leaders, and the local Katangan authority in the formation and development of these conversations. It further examines private letters, diaries, and newspaper editorials in the debate to maintain this identity and finally how these ideas became discursive elements in the creation of a local identity and legitimate provincial authority and a separate citizenship for the province. Finally, the paper analyzes the dynamics of pre-constructed and locally reconstructed identity and how various spaces in Katanga helped to produce these ideas.

Paper short abstract:

On radio, listeners express expectations towards leaders, who invoke qualities that should prove they are fit to rule. This paper scrutinizes these arguments and analyzes the conflicting principles and repertoires of accountability which they reflect and contribute shaping in contemporary Uganda.

Paper long abstract:

During interactive radio talk shows, listeners often express expectations concerning their leaders. Rulers have to persuade of their legitimacy to rule, and deploy arguments that, according to them, justify their position. This paper scrutinizes these grievances and arguments and analyzes the principles that they reflect and contribute shaping in contemporary Uganda. It is, thus, an opportunity to seize in the making and historicize the ordinary doctrines according to which leaders are required to account. Radio promotes "suitable" ways of interacting for rulers and ruled that are, however, contested, revealing conflicting conceptions of representative politics, responsible leadership and civism, between journalists, leaders and listeners.

The paper shows how the figure of an MP as a direct provider of wealth, and, more unexpectedly, of a "pedagogic MP" -who insists on his role as an "explainer" of politics, creating an imagined citizenry in demand of enlightened leadership-, are dialogically sketched. It shows how "participatory" arenas contribute to elaborate particular conceptions of political representation. Whereas they are often encouraged to "ask questions", and to stick to topics labeled as "developmental", some callers don't respect this format of dialogue. On the one hand, some contest the division of political roles implied by the idea of the "pedagogic MP" by assuming themselves the mantle of intellectual excellence. On the other hand, political leaders often complain of being "insulted" on the radio. By making unexpected comments, listeners force leaders to justify themselves on alternative repertoires, and remind of older controversies around rudeness in Central Uganda's politics.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores debates over the appropriate behavior of aspirant and elected parliamentarians during the Zambian elections of 2012. It considers views expressed in interviews with the candidates, in surveys on desirable traits of 'leadership', and during talk-radio shows.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores debates over the appropriate behavior of aspirant and elected parliamentarians during the Zambian elections of 2012, comparing constituencies in 'rural' Eastern Province, and the urban spaces of the capital Lusaka.

It compares the views of candidates themselves about how to get elected, survey data on the desirable traits of 'leadership', and the perspectives put forward by 'citizens' and 'leaders' on performance, accountability, loyalty and mobilisation on interactive radio shows.

It argues firstly (perhaps unsurprisingly) that, inspite of the celebrated opposition 'Don't Kubeba!' campaign to undermine the patrimonial campaigning by the incumbent party, notions of the 'social worker' politician remain central in many places. This concept of an MP charged with 'delivery' competes with a 'liberal' image of the MP as legislator and watchdog and a 'radical' image of the MP as people's tribune.

Secondly, it argues that interactive radio tends to reflect rather than transform dominant patterns of social relations in any given space, serving as a resource for the transformation of popular consciousness rather than simply a source of democratic pressure on the authorities. As such, mediated interaction with mass audiences is a commodity to be bought, sold, and controlled. Thirdly, the paper argues that these logics typically enforce themselves on the many donor-sponsored 'good governance' shows. Whilst imagined by their sponsors as generating counteracting liberal logics of accountability, technocratic and non-partisan framings often limits their impact on popular consciousness and facilitate capture by patrimonial styles of mobilisation that share an apolitical focus on 'delivery'.