STRUCTURES OF CONTROL AND POWER AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE IN A WESTERN GRASSFIELDS CHIEFDOM

J.A. Mope Simo

Introduction
The Chiefdom of Bamunka
Social Control and Power Relations The Interaction between Gender, Patriarchy and Symbolism
Chieftainship and Social Change
'Nggwase' as a Mode of Domination and Stability in Society
New Dimensions of the Symbolic Power of Title-holding in Bamunka
Gizzards and male status
Conclusion

This paper focuses on the interaction between the structures, belief systems, practices and epistemological claims of Bamunka and the dialectics of the regional and national political economies. These institutions are instrumental in shaping the pattern, direction and extent of the gender and social relations which are products of a specific political, economic and social history.

The main objective is to examine the systematic interaction between the customary systems of Bamunka and the national bureaucracy. Comparative observations and historico-anthropological sources for the Ndop Plain will be used and, by extension, those four other Western Grassfields chiefdoms.

The paper also seeks to show how this coexistence provides opportunities and constraints to both genders, and to specific social groups of women. The claim is that an analysis of who benefits or who does not from these structures depends on specific circumstances, an actor's gender, social status, access to old and new resources, and increasingly their achievements. The main argument is that an understanding of the ways in which power relationships change must include the dimension of gender.

While structural changes including increasing specialisation and commoditization of land, labour, agricultural products and symbolic capital are occurring, nonetheless, big men are not relinquishing claims to customary rights (e.g. titles and status), co-operation and even domination through kinship, gender divisions and power relations.