Ian Fowler and David Zeitlyn (eds.) African crossroads.
Intersections between history and anthropology in Cameroon
Berghahn Books, Providence and Oxford 1996, XXVII + 213 S., ISBN
1-57181-926-6), £10,95
Cameroon is often referred to as Africa in microcosm". Over the
last four decades it has attracted a considerable number of
scholars from all over the world. Elisabeth (Sally Chilver's
pioneering work has marked several generations of research in the
anthropology and the history of Cameroon. The celebration of her
life and work has led to three publications reflecting the state
of Cameroon studies.
The volume at hand is accompanied by a set of papers forming a
major section of the 1995 issue of Paideuma and a sample of
articles published in a 1996 issue of the Journal of the
Anthropological Society of Oxford. Unlike many other
"Festschrifts" African crossroads is relatively homogenous. All
authors explicitly refer to central aspects of Chilver's work.
Moreover the articles supplement each other through their concept
and theoretical orientation in analysis that combine historical
and anthropological perspectives. Chilver has exemplified this
approach in a number of pathbreaking papers, many of them
co-authored with the late Phyllis Kaberry.
Geographically Chilver's work concentrates on the so-called
Grassfields in North Western Cameroon. Only two papers in this
volume don't focus on this or neighbouring areas: The essay by
Philip Burnham presents a reanalysis of the historiography of the
earlier relationships between the Gbaya and the European
explorers and traders on the eve of formal colonisation. He
underlines the need to confront contemporary European colonial
documents with data concerning oral tradition, archaeological
evidence and historical linguistics. Unfortunately, the
well-written article by Burnham criticises, in an overly pedantic
manner, old work of the French historian Catherine
Coquery-Vidrovitch in order to make this argument - a good
example of academic shadow-boxing! Ralph Austen analyses the
complex relationships between the Germans and the Duala. At a
more general level his case study demonstrates convincingly both
the ambiguities and banalities of colonial history, and how these
underlying contradictions connect with ongoing confrontations
between Africa and Europe.
I will briefly summarize only some of the other articles. Richard
Fardon's paper ("The Person, Ethnicity, and the Problem of
'Identity' in West Africa") treats the chiefdom of Bali-Nyonga.
Fardon takes it as an example to reflect about the
incommensurability between anthropological and local models, the
numerous historical links between them. He is particularly struck
by the way in which professional anthropologists and local
historians, both accepting bounded identities as a norm, found
different problems. Verkijika Fanso and Bongfen
Chem-Langhêê present an account of Nso' Military
organisation and Warfare in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries, based on a variety of archival and oral sources. They
link the characteristics of the very effective and innovative
military organisation in Nso' to its reputation in the nineteenth
century as a strong military force. Jean-Pierre Warnier examines
a fairly unknown phenomenon in the history of the Grassfields: a
multiple revolt of Africans against European colonialists as well
as young Africans against their elders in the early years of
German colonial rule. The elders monopolised the Grassfields'
political systems whereby the young males were powerless. In his
recent book on Bamiléké entrepreneurship Warnier
analyses these conflicting constellations in the so-called
Bamiléké chiefdoms during the period of
independence from 1956 to 1970. In her very interesting
contribution Christraud Geary finally tackles the subject of
military and political dress in the court of Bamum paramount
Njoya during the German period. She uses early colonial
photography as well as Bamum ethnography to explore the shifting
relationship between dress and identity in a period of intense
change.
This coherent and well-researched volume is a welcome addition to
the fast-growing literature on Cameroon and underlines the high
quality of Cameroon studies. Thus it is appropriate for paying
tribute to Sally Chilver.
Andreas Eckert