Every week, Inside Africa takes its viewers on a journey across
Africa, exploring the true diversity and depth of different cultures, countries
and regions.
(BraveheartNaija) For
the past five years, Austria-based art historian and photographer Alfred Weidinger has
traveled across Africa in search of royalty. His photography project, The Last Kings of Africa,
is his attempt to capture the beauty and mystique of the region's most powerful
sovereigns. So far he has photographed 220 tribal kings and leaders, with many
more to go.
"I have a sort of deadline for myself -- which is the
end of next year. It's not a question of the amount of kings or tribal leaders,
it's just a question of countries," says Weidinger, who plans to visit
Africa twice this year and six times in 2015.
"There are still countries I definitely want to visit, for
example Swaziland and the southern part of Sudan."
Weidinger's photographic endeavors in Africa started in 1979 but
the cumbersome equipment typical to that era quickly deterred the photographer.
Fast forward 30 years, and a chance commission for a photographic exhibition
sparked a long-term project where the lavish culture of Africa's dynasties
became the focus.
Weidinger had no definitive guide to help him locate all of
Africa's royals and tribal leaders. Armed with only two cameras and a tripod,
his trips were mostly improvised.
"There is no list, there is nothing! So you just have to go
there," says Weidinger.
"The most important thing is to find one king -- when I have
one, he will guide me to the others."
The power game
There are hundreds of African monarchies scattered across the
continent but in most cases governing power is either restricted or
nonexistent. Government officials, however, know it's best not to overlook the
influence these leaders possess over their respective communities.
"Some countries put the monarch system back into the
constitution, they give power to the traditional leaders," says Weidinger.
"In effect, some politicians use it because every tribal
leader (represents) an ethnic group and they still follow the words of the
elder or the tribal leader, they are not following what is happening with the
politicians in the capital."
According to Richard Dowden, the
director of The Royal African Society and
author of Africa: Authored States, Ordinary
Miracles, monarchies tend to flourish in countries with a weak
government structure or lacking a formal constitution. In these instances,
tribal leaders and monarchs are deemed more trustworthy for getting things
done. Niger, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Benin are a few examples of
countries with a strong tribal leaders, some of whom occasionally tackle
government functions. Fon Ndofoa Zofoa III, for example, makes official
decisions over hereditary land in his chiefdom in Babungo in Cameroon. Other
leaders, like Sarauniya Aljima, the queen of Lougou in Niger, weigh in on
private matters, such as marriage.
"When there is a marriage to be made (in the village,
monarchs) will return to sort it out. In these sorts of matters, they do retain
a lot of power," says Dowden.
Weidinger found that one thing that seems to distinguish African
monarchs from royals across the globe is a keen religious focus:
"Their power is in spirituality and this makes (African
monarchs) so unique."
The danger of cell phones
Weidinger says that in his opinion, the biggest threat to Africa's
last remaining monarchs isn't local government, but modernity.
Though poised in luxurious cloths and perched on gilded thrones,
the threat of globalization has disturbed the influence and social standing of
many of Wedinger's subjects.
"When you come to a region and you see that they are working
with mobile phones, it's a kind of sign. If you see mobile phones you
definitely know that it's a dying ethnic group. African culture is changing,
there are changes in communication. People are going to the capitals and living
where there is no need for a king anymore," he says, adding that cell
phones have made people living in rural communities less isolated. Now, the
problems they would typically raise with their community leaders they can take
to experts further afield.
Dowden, however, thinks these monarchs will retain their power for
a while yet.
"I think the chiefs will survive," he says.
"Depending on how local governments in Africa develop,
they'll either become figures for tourists or they'll continue to play a very
important role."
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