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Between the sacred and the secular: indigenous intellectual property, international markets and the modern African state

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 June 2006

Robert L. Ostergard ,
Matthew R. Tubin  and
Patrick Dikirr
Robert L. Ostergard
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Binghamton University, State University of New York.
Matthew R. Tubin
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania.
Patrick Dikirr
Affiliation:
Institute of Global Cultural Studies, Binghamton University, State University of New York.
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Abstract

In the modern global economy, transnational corporations have become important sources of technology, market access and capital – all of which states seek in propelling economic growth. States themselves provide territory, and establish the ‘rules of the game’ by which corporations may operate within that territory. However, with the commodification and commercialisation of indigenous cultural and intellectual property, states are bypassed and negotiations emerge between corporations and sub-state actors who claim to represent population segments. May the bypassing of the state further weaken national or state identity among indigenous groups? Such is the case that may be emerging in Africa with groups who claim profits derived from the development and marketing of indigenous cultural and intellectual property. This paper explores the possibility that profit-sharing agreements between transnational corporations and sub-state groups may contribute to the widening of ethnic cleavages in African states by promoting inequalities between groups.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 309 - 333
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

We are grateful to Dr Ali A. Mazrui of Binghamton University, State University of New York, and Prof. Christopher May of Lancaster University for their invaluable comments. We are also grateful to the Fernand Braudel Center at Binghamton University and the Institute for African Development at Cornell University, for providing us the opportunity to present parts of this paper in separate lectures during the past three years. Of course, all errors are ours alone.