ABSTRACT

Bureaucracy is often portrayed as having an unrivalled capacity to shape human relationships in states and organisations. By contrast, however, ethnographic studies have suggested that bureaucracy cannot easily take root among Somalis and other Muslim nomadic societies where kinship is ostensibly supreme. Based on ethnographic research at Dagahaley refugee camp, this article challenges the idea that Somali kinship and bureaucratic structures are rival governing technologies. I demonstrate that kinship and bureaucracy play similar roles and are, therefore, not incompatible. Kinship provided traction to bureaucratic procedures in the way people used it alongside bureaucracy as means of governance and resource access. The article contributes to legal and political anthropology, as well as the burgeoning field of ethnography of bureaucracy by attributing common portrayals of civil wars, ethnicity, and nepotism as ‘nomadic’ or ‘African’ problems to commentators’ failure to grasp the value of kinship in these societies.

摘要

官僚机构经常被描述为在国家和组织中具有无与伦比的塑造人际关系的能力。然而，相比之下，人种学研究表明，官僚主义不能轻易地在索马里人和其他表面上亲属关系至高无上的穆斯林游牧社会中扎根。本文基于 Dagahaley 难民营的民族志研究，挑战了索马里亲属关系和官僚结构是相互竞争的治理技术的观点。我证明了亲属关系和官僚机构扮演着相似的角色，因此并非不相容。亲属关系为官僚程序提供了牵引力，人们将其与官僚机构一起用作治理和资源访问的手段。这篇文章有助于法律和政治人类学，