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