Avillage head,village headman orvillage chief is the leader of a village, hamlet, or other type of settlement too small to have their ownmayor.[1]
Unlike the position of mayor, denoting a leader of acity,town or other large settlements with its own incorporated government, the title of village head may be purely ceremonial or even entirely unofficial, simply denoting an individual which commands sizeable political and social influence in a given area. This is especially the case in the modern era, as increased urbanization and advances in communication mean that most villages are subject to some form of local government already, and thus the need for local chiefs has decreased. However, in some countries, village heads continue to exist as an official government position analogous to that of a mayor, or at the very least as a consultative or representative role that mediates between small communities and higher levels of government.
InBrunei, village head is calledketua kampung orketua kampong in theMalay language. It is an administrative post which leads the community of avillage administrative division, the third and lowestsubdivision of the country.
In China, village head (simplified Chinese:村长;traditional Chinese:村長;pinyin:cūn zhǎng) is a local government or tribal post. The village headman is the person appointed to administer an area that is often a singlevillage.
The headman has several official duties in the village, and is sometimes seen as amediator in disputes and a general "fixer" of village or individuals problems.
Examples of headmanship have been observed among theZuni,[2]!Kung, andMehinacu,[3] among others. Nearby tribal leaders recognized or appointed by theChinese were known astusi (tu-szu;Chinese:土司;pinyin:tǔsī;Wade–Giles:t'u3-szu1), although they could command larger areas than a single village.
The village head inIndonesia is calledKepala Desa.
Generally inMalaysia, the village head is calledKetua Kampung, except for theproto Malay village where the position is calledBatin. Ketua Kampung was appointed and assisted byMajlis Pengurusan Komuniti Kampung (Village Community Management Board). InSarawak, the head of a traditionallong house is calledTuai Rumah.
Eachbarangay (village) in the Philippines is led by abarangay captain.
In theQing and earlyRepublican era,dibao were officially appointed village officials, usually selected from the local landowning class and responsible for land use and boundaries in their jurisdiction.
InEdo period Japan, the village head was callednanushi (名主) and was in charge of tax collection, general village administration, management of public natural resources (such as mountain, field, river and ocean) of the village, as well as negotiating with the territorial lord as the representative of the villagers.[4]
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