Faire la magistrature au Bénin

Careers, Self-Images and Independence of the Beninese Judiciary (1894-2016) – With a Preface by Thomas Bierschenk

Author: Annalena Kolloch. With a preface by: Thomas Bierschenk. Series edited by: Heike Drotbohm, Franziska Fay, Matthias Krings, Nico Nassenstein, Anja Oed, Markus Verne.

Series: MBA Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrikaforschung Volume 46

2022
248 pp.
1 colour map, 10 colour photos, 3 colour diagrams, 2 colour illustrations, 2 facsimile reproductions, numerous tables and charts, appendices: List of all persons interviewed and their positions, Career paths of the magistrates interviewed by generation
Text language(s): English
Format: 170 x 240 mm
610 g
Paperback
€ 59.80

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Since 2012, judges and prosecutors in Benin have gone on strike repeatedly, sometimes for months at a time. They are protesting against sweeping accusations of corruption, irregular appointments and political influence. On 10 July 2014, the dispute between the judiciary and the government came to a head. Wearing judicial robes, the magistrates demonstrated on the streets of Porto‐Novo against the government’s bill to take away their right to strike and other freedoms.

What moved them not only to stop working again and again, but even to protest in the streets wearing their robes? What does it mean to be a magistrate and to work in this profession in this politically tense situation in Benin? Why do the magistrates act the way they do? In this book, the actions and views of state magistrates are examined and thus contribute to the larger question of how statehood functions in Africa and Benin in particular. In doing so, a portrait of a professional group which goes back to 1894 was created.

About the author:
Annalena Kolloch is a postdoctoral research fellow in the DFG-funded project “Police Translations: Multilingualism and the Everyday Production of Cultural Difference” at the Department of Anthropology and African Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. She studied anthropology, political science and communication studies in Mainz. From 2016 to 2019, she was a scholarship holder of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. In recognition of her excellent dissertation in anthropology, she was awarded the Sulzmann Foundation Prize. She has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Benin and Germany, as well as archival research in France.

Following the links below, you will find further analyses of educational systems and professional careers in Benin:

Accompanying material:

• Auf dem Boden der Tatsachen (ISBN 978-3-89645-828-5)
• Dezentralisierung, Demokratisierung und die lokale Repräsentation des Staates / Décentralisation, démocratisation, et les représentations locales de la force publique (ISBN 978-3-89645-306-8)
• Mining Frontiers (ISBN 978-3-89645-832-2)
• The Multiplicity of Orders and Practices (ISBN 978-3-89645-850-6)
• The Reorganisation or the End of Constitutional Liberties? (ISBN 978-3-89645-405-8)
• Zugehörigkeiten (ISBN 978-3-89645-843-8)

Cross-reference:

• Administration of Justice in Africa – Effectiveness, Acceptance and Assistance (ISBN 978-3-89645-802-5)
• African Media Cultures – Cultures de médias en Afrique (ISBN 978-3-89645-246-7)
• Arbeit, Sklaverei und Erinnerung (ISBN 978-3-89645-349-5)
• Entwicklungsmakler, Kleinunternehmer, Dienstleister? (ISBN 978-3-89645-823-0)
• Être enseignant au Bénin (ISBN 978-3-89645-835-3)
• Im Gewand von Herrschaft (ISBN 978-3-89645-211-5)
• L’Islam béninois à la croisée des chemins (ISBN 978-3-89645-817-9)
• The NGOisation of Education (ISBN 978-3-89645-831-5)

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