Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the (spatial) mobility trajectories of Chiefs and Chieftainesses in Southern Africa, specifically in Zambia. Focus lies on the intra-institutional networking between traditional authorities and the inter-institutional cooperation with a missionary organization.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on the (spatial) mobility trajectories of Chiefs and Chieftainesses in Southern Africa, specifically in Zambia. The intermediary institution of chieftaincy in Zambia plays an important role in local governance and is strongly connected to a certain geographic territory. Nevertheless, Zambia's traditional authorities are becoming increasingly mobile, for example, to attend conferences or other official meetings. This intra-institutional networking to some extent involves actors or organizations from other institutions or institutional orders because traditional authorities rely on these primarily as (financial) enablers of their intra-institutional networking. In this paper, we discuss the networking between African traditional authorities in Zambia facilitated by a Christian missionary organization. In October 2022, Overland Missions hosted the King of Kings Celebration, the first gathering of this kind, to bring together Zambian traditional leaders from the Forum of African Traditional Authorities in Zambia (FATAZA) with traditional leaders from the Forum of African Traditional Authorities (FATA). The overall aim of the event was on the one side to discuss issues of land ownership and development in the chiefdoms and on the other side to celebrate divine supremacy. How does this gathering influence the negotiation of different institutional logics of the institutions of chieftaincy and Christian religion? Does the collaboration between traditional authorities and Overland Missions impact the spatial sphere of influence, here referred to as ‘institutional turf’ of chieftaincy institutions?