The
Kaberry Research Centre
(
KRC), Bamenda, Cameroon
has recently published the volume:
RITES OF PASSAGE AND INCORPORATION IN THE WESTERN GRASSFIELDS OF CAMEROON
Volume I
Birth, Naming, Childhood, Adolescence,
the Incorporation of Royal Wives &
some Palace Rituals
Edited by
Patrick Mbunwe-Samba
Paul N. Mzeka
Mathias L. Niba
Clare Wirmum
See:
*****
CONTENTS
-
Preface
Patrick Mbunwe-Samba
-
Introduction
Dr Mathias L. Niba
-
Rituals of Initiation:
Paul N. Mzeka
the Nso' case
-
A Case-Study of the
Patrick Mbunwe-Samba
Wimbum Ethnic Group
-
Rites of Passage
Dr Joseph Banadzem
among the Yamba
-
Birth, Childhood
Dr Mathias L. Niba
and Adolescence:
the case of Bafut
-
Initiation and Rites
John Koyela Fokwang
of Passage:
the case of Bali-Nyonga
-
The case of the Oshie
Isaac Akenji Ndambi
Clan in Momo Division
-
Delivery and Naming
Sam N. Wambeng
in Oku
-
Rites of Passage and
Dr Clare Wirmum
Incorporation in
Bamunka, Mezam Division
-
Initiation and Rites
John Koyela Fokwang
of Passage in Aghem,
Menchum Division
-
Rites of Passage in Kom
Jerome Nsom
-
Rites of Passage:
Isaac Akenji Ndambi
the case of Moghamo
(Batibo)
-
Naming and Initiation
Sali Django and
Rites: the Fulani case
Paul N. Mzeka
-
An Afterword
Sally Chilver
*****
The theme 'Rites of Passage in the Western Grassfields' was selected after a rigorous discussion during the Kaberry Research Centre (KRC) workshop held at the Mbengwi Monastery early in 1990. Initiation Rites took precedence over all the other themes selected because of the realization that rituals have always incorporated elements of the environment and they often tend to be conservative (Nkwi and Warnier: 1982:23). Nkwi and Warnier point out that 'People do not part easily with their ritual symbols, and as circumstances change, the symbols are maintained even if they are not easily found in the environment'. The theme was thus chosen in order to try as much as possible to document some elements of the Western Grassfields' rituals that are still fairly well remembered, or practised before the barrage of modern civilization and the modern mass media will have wiped out these residual elements from the memory of the fast disappearing older generation. We hope our efforts will provide source material for further social and historical studies for scholars interested in this immensely diverse area.
The first workshop at which the above decisions were taken was devoted primarily to planning. The second that followed a year later proved to be highly enlightening, the theme approach being fully exploited. Researchers compared notes, strategies and field experiences. The sharing of experiences led to the modification of a few strategies and the insertion of vital elements omitted in the first draft of the study: this turned out to be very enriching to the study.
Finally, the Editorial Board met in November 1991 to examine the first drafts submitted so far. Naturally certain questions arose and needed further clarification and thus modification from researchers, or, as often happened, called for a return to the field for more information.
Apart from the study of Oku by Sam Wambeng, the Kom by Jerome Nsom, the Fulani minority by Sali Django assisted by Paul Mzeka which were requisitioned afterwards, all of the other contributions in the book are from the group that attended the first workshop in Mbengwi Monastery. Some ethnic areas had to be reassigned because four of the people in the group were unable to carry through their own research and write-up. Two other scholars who were contacted later found it too time-consuming a task to get involved in.
This book is thus the result of the collective effort by its contributors who bore, personally, all the cost of the research. The ACT organization took charge of preliminary typing and the Editorial Board including Paul Mzeka, Dr M.L. Niba, Dr Clare Wirmum and myself did the preliminary editing and coordination of the work, each stage under the careful supervision of Paul Mzeka.
I would particularly like to thank Paul Mzeka for formulating the questionnaire which was only slightly modified for this purpose, Isaac Akenji Ndambi and John Fokwang for their courage in doing two ethnic groups each and Sally Chilver of Oxford, England, for her untiring encouragement, support, proofreading the book and making valuable suggestions and for writing the afterword. Our gratitude goes to Dr Ian Fowler who "translated" our original disk and supervised the making of the final one. Professor Miriam Goheen of Amherst College came to our rescue by allowing us the use of Amherst print- out facilities, for which we are ever grateful. Many thanks are due to Che P.N. Mathias for the first typing on disk. I hope that everyone reading this book will enjoy the variety in the style and content in each case study presented by individuals with varying social and academic backgrounds who have lived some of these experiences they describe, some with such fondness.
Patrick Mbunwe-Samba
*****
The Western Grassfields, referred to administratively as the
North West
Province, covers 17,910km2
of the western portion
of the
grassfields
of Cameroon. It extends eastward along the Nun valley and the
highlands of
Bamboutos, northwesterly along the Nigerian border and
southwards along the
northern fringes of the tropical forest region of Manyu
Division. From south
to north, it lies between latitude 5 N and 7 N and from west
to east between
longitude 9 30E and 11 30E. Its dominant geographical feature
is the grassy,
high volcanic plateau whose average height of 1,500m above sea
level
culminating in the 3,000m Kilum mountain in Oku. The region
contains numerous
crater lakes, some of which are believed to be dangerous
because they can
discharge lethal gases, the latest being that of Nyos in 1986
when nearly
2,000 persons lost their lives.
According to the 1953 census, the population of the
Western Grassfields
was about 429,100 and by the 1987 census it stood at 1.2
million inhabitants.
The rapid population growth is exerting excessive pressure on
the available
resources; consequently the tropical highland forest which
forty years ago
was estimated to cover 37% of the region (Kaberry, 1952:19)
has virtually
disappeared, the only noticeable remnant being the Kilum
mountain forest
whose existence is still constantly threatened by agricultural
and grazing
encroachments. Referring to this aspect of the region, Nkwi
and Warnier
(1982:23) point out that evidence from archaeology and botany
indicate that
the highlands were once covered with forests and their
inhabitants were
forest-dwelling people. Eye-witness accounts by Hauptmann
Glauning, the
German military commander at the dawn of the twentieth
century, supports this
claim: many still forested areas he then described have since
vanished, with
the wildlife they harboured (cf. Deutsches
Kolonialblatt,
1906,
235-41 and 705-707).
The Western Grassfields on the whole are fertile and well
watered. The
region is the principal watershed for the rivers that flow
into the Mbam in
Cameroon and the Benue in Nigeria. Rainfall averages 200cm per
annum, falling
mostly between mid-March and October, the period of the rainy
season. The
period from November to March is the dry season during which
the Harmattan
from the north envelops the region in a haze of dust.
The Peoples
Studies have established that the region has been inhabited
for several
millenia (Nkwi and Warnier, 1982:19), though many of the
dynasties that claim
origins outside the region emerged relatively recently. The
traditions of
origin of some of these dynasties have provided the basis for
the colonial
census classification of the peoples of the Western
Grassfields because of
their leading role in the sociopolitical and economic life of
the area. Thus
peoples whose dynasties claim a Tikar origin were classified
as 'Tikar'
irrespective of the fact that other groups claim separate
origins. Much the
same applies to the Chamba (Bali, Ba'ni) chiefdoms, recent
formations
composed of Chamba dynasties and Adamawa and
Grassfields peoples incorporated in the course of raids and
migrations
(Fardon, in Paideuma
29, 1983). This principle applies
less to the so-
called 'Widekum' whose settlements appear to have involved
more members of a
group, now given the linguistic label Momo. Of the three
groups, the 'Tikar'
are so far the largest, constituting about 60% of the total
population and
are represented in this study by Nso', Oku, Mbum, Kom, Bafut,
Yamba and
Aghem. The Widekum, roughly 30% are represented only by Oshie
and Batibo and
Chamba, about 5% by Bali-Nyonga. The others, that is those who
do not fit
into any of the three groups (roughly 5%) are the Hausa, Ibo,
Fulani and some
of the villages in the Menchum and Donga Mantung Division, are
represented by
the Fulani, also known as Fulbe or Mbororo.
The kinship systems of these groups are mostly
patrilineal, except for
Kom, Aghem and some peoples of the Fungom area who are
matrilineal. In their
political systems the so-called Tikar and Chamba are
characterized by
centralized structures under the rule of powerful kings,
nowadays called
Fons.
On the other hand, the Widekum group is marked by
decentralized
or segmentary political systems. Here, power is diffused among
clan elders.
Chiefs, if any, are actually first among equals.
The Western Grassfields is therefore an area of immense
diversity. They
constitute and portray neither linguistic nor cultural unity,
though their
tight commercial, social and diplomatic network, their
experience of the
Chamba and Fulani raids, the Islamic and Christian religious
influences as
well as a shared colonial experience, first with the Germans
and later with
the British, seem to have installed and paved the way for a
common future
culture. For the moment, however, pluralism remains the
keynote
characteristic of the region.
Until recently, most of the cartographical names in the
region were of
missionary and colonial orthography and external origin.
Attempts to recover
and replace some of the names with more locally inspired
linguistic usages
have often been resisted. Recently, to be precise since
independence in 1961,
cartographical names have either been modified
orthographically or completely
changed. Bafreng has become Nkwen, Bamessing - Nsei, Nsungli -
Mbum, Nsaw -
Nso', Kaka - Yamba, Abakwa - Mankon, Bagangu - Akum. The
Summer Institute of
Linguistics is assisting in the development of an orthography
for the local
languages and this is also having an impact on the orthography
of personal
and place names.
We find a need for adequate knowledge of the belief
systems of the
people as corollaries of their world view. This is governed by
the common
ontological principle that life is the interaction between the
world of the
living, the ancestors and the yet unborn. These are principles
which animate
their sociopolitical, economic and cultural activities. This
also affects
their religious outlook. In their relation with the
supernatural, the outlook
seems to be polytheistic. The idea of a belief in one God
appears to have
been influenced by Christianity and Islam. But in the
conventional
traditional world view, the being that coordinated the
activities of the
various gods still remains a problem.
Initiation Rites
Our present research treats, in broad outline, the INITIATION
AND
INCORPORATION RITES IN THE WESTERN GRASSFIELDS OF CAMEROON
through the
various cultural practices of selected ethnic groups. For the
time being we
are concentrating on those rites performed during birth,
childhood and
adolescence. We hope that in the next volume we will treat
those performed
during adulthood and burial.Our studies revealed certain
commonalities which
support the theory that though diversified the Western
Grassfields
nonetheless constitute a cultural and historical whole (Nkwi
and Warnier,
1982:6). Some of the principal cultural commonalities are the
following:
- Except in Bali-Nyonga, nursing the first child away from the
husband's home
was a common practice. Usually, the mother's father's compound
was preferred
for such nursing.
- Everywhere, twins were believed to be children of God or of
the gods and
thus were gifted with certain mysterious powers. Almost
everywhere the
parents received social recognition and bore the title
Taanyie,
also
Taangyie
and Maanyie
or Maangyie
for
father mother
respectively.
- Stillbirth was commonly regarded as a polluting event.
Consequently, the
parents, in some instances just the mother, had to be
cleansed. The cleansing
rites invariably involved bathing and shaving.
- Almost everywhere the first child's navel cord was buried in
the compound
of the child's father, generally in or by his house.
- Ancestor 'worship' was a universal practice. Nowhere was
ancestral
intervention unrecognized and it was dutifully sought.
- Surprisingly, Bafut has no naming rituals, which are found
almost
everywhere else. Elements of the Bafut practice are
nonetheless found in some
areas where certain categories of children are named without
rituals. This is
the case, as will be realized, in Nso'.
Aware of the importance that the environmental elements
of ritualism
have, it was stressed from the start that every effort be made
to identify
items used during rituals. Identification was to be by local
and English
names and, where possible, by the scientific names as well. In
the scientific
domain, our identification exercise was made possible thanks
to the presence
of a botanist, Dr Clare Wirmum, among us.
The contributors to this volume are from a variety of
backgrounds
academically, but all of them are intimately familiar with the
peoples they
have studied. Most of the essays have been written from the
insiders' point
of view, which brings to the study a freshness hitherto
uncommon.
Dr M.L. Niba
The Editorial Board
Sally Chilver
Since the first professional ethnographer, Ankermann, toured
parts of the Western Grassfields in 1907-9, they have been
something of a puzzle to ethnographers. For a time interest in
the art and culture of the present-day North West Province was
rather overshadowed by the 'discovery' (in mid-1902) of the
spectacular neighbouring kingdom of Bamum. But the complexity
and diversity of its political systems, ceremonial life and
material culture never ceased to engage the attention of
successive generations of missionaries and colonial
administrators, among whom were to be found some who made
important contributions to its study. The continuous study of
its cultural wealth by outsiders was broken by two fratricidal
European wars.
After the second, Phyllis Kaberry arrived to make a study of
the economic position of women and returned again (1958, 1960,
1963) to make a comparative study of its political systems.
Before long she was followed by a number of distinguished
successors - American, French, British, German and latterly
Belgian and Dutch. At the same time members of the University
of Yaounde and the Institute of Human Sciences, mostly
indigenous to the region, began to make it a field of study,
often from the viewpoint of its contemporary political economy
and developmental possibilities. Students at the Major
Seminary (STAMS) were encouraged to broaden their theological
and pastoral studies by the observation of the beliefs and
ceremonies surrounding them, in the spirit of Africae
Terrarum
, and have written dissertations.
But too little of this work, much of it tucked away in
symposia, learned journals or theses, was available to or
affordable by an increasingly highly literate public, in
particular to the corps of teachers and teacher-trainers in
the region.
True, Kaberry and I had arranged with the like-minded Edwin
Ardener in 1967 that a summary of our findings should be
published locally and cheaply in the series he was editing, as
a starting point for further work. This was followed in 1982
by Nkwi and Warnier's very useful booklet, issued by the
Department of Sociology at Yaounde University, which likewise
appeals for further and continuous work on the spot.
Meanwhile new topics have developed, among them ethnomedicine,
changes in land law, land tenure and land use, the 'new
witchcraft' and the transformations undergone by old
institutions and identities under the pressures of
commoditization, modern communications and extensions of the
sphere of government: these have given rise to important
contributions by local and foreign writers. But older ones,
too, have been a given a new look. The history of the pre-
Colonial past, previously based on the conjectures of colonial
administrators and simplistic interpretations of oral
tradition, is now emerging more clearly with the help of
archaeology, linguistics and palaeobotany.
But in the course of all this many of the large gaps in older
studies remained unfilled. While chiefly rituals and the
beliefs surrounding them continued to be studied in greater
detail, those which marked the life-stages of individuals,
even if they might receive occasional mention (most often in
ethnomedical studies or those of gender roles and attitudes)
were not pursued in the same detail. The first to remedy this
omission on a regional and comparative basis have been members
of the Kaberry Research Centre (KRC), the research wing of the
Association for Creative Teaching. These have brought some
quite new material to light; and much of it will certainly be
seen as crucial to the understanding of the better recorded,
public, aspects of Western Grassfields civilization.
I turn the reader's attention now to the back cover-page which describes the origins and
purposes of the KRC. Besides engaging in research, it provides
an archive of offprints, fieldnotes and unpublished materials
as a resource for local and visiting scholars, writers and
teachers. I hope that readers of this production will join it
or persuade their institutions to order its publications, and
that those of you who have enjoyed the famous hospitality of
the Grassfields will remember that your offprint or seminar
paper will reach an appreciative and knowledgeable readership
there.PRE>
47 Kingston Road
Oxford OX2 6RH
Deutsches Kolonialblatt
, 1906.
Fardon, R.O. 1983 "A Chronology of Pre-colonial Chamba
History".Paideuma
, 29.
Kaberry, P.M. 1952 Women of the Grassfields
, H.M.
Stationery Office, London.
Nkwi, P.N. and Warnier, J.P., 1982. A History of the
Western Grassfields
, Publication of the Department of
Sociology, Yaounde.
All inquiries for copies should be addressed to:-
KRC, PO Box 510, Bamenda, North-West Province,
Cameroon.
(Copies may be available locally in the U.K. from:-
'Books from Africa', [D. Hogarth], 1 Birchington Court,
Birchington Rd, N8 8HS.)
CAM
Links
WHAT IS THE KRC?
The abbreviation KRC stands for the Kaberry Research Centre, a
non-profit research component of the Association for Creative
Teaching. It is named after Dr Phyllis Mary Kaberry, Yaa woo
Kov, Reader in Social Anthropology in the University of
London, who worked in the Western Grassfields in the 1940s and
1960s in close collaboration and correspondence with her
informants and with teachers.
The Centre is open on all days of the week (except Sundays)
and is open to scholars, teachers, writers and researchers
from within and outside of Cameroon who are interested in the
study of the culture and traditions of the Western Grassfields
- formerly the Bamenda Division and now the North West
Province.
The Centre welcomes those who are interested in this
culturally diverse Province and hopes for a constructive and
objective interaction with them. The Centre collects
materials, published or unpublished, on the area. This is made
available to anybody carrying out research in the said area.
The Kaberry Centre Bulletin
is to be published
annually - two numbers have been issued - and is circulated to
registered and paid-up members. A membership fee of 10,000
Francs CFA (about 40 USA dollars) is chargeable each calendar
year. To register in Cameroon please send your fee in cash.
Outside Cameroon please send your cheque (in equivalent
British pounds, American or Canadian dollars, French francs,
Dutch florins, etc.) to: The Coordinator, KRC, PO Box 510,
Bamenda, N.W. Province, Cameroon, made out to Kaberry Research
Centre.
The KRC as a charity relies heavily on support from the
public. YOUR CONTRIBUTION COUNTS. It can be a financial
donation, or you can talk to us about your work, or talk about
us to others, or collect and send to us published or
unpublished material on the Western Grassfields of Cameroon
and the areas which border it. The KRC welcomes exchanges with
other periodicals and newsletters. We are happy to advertise
any information sent to us.
Finally, the KRC is looking for a sponsor or sponsors to help
it to continue its activities. Any assistance, specifically
for the production of the Bulletin, which contains information
about recently published or forthcoming publications by its
members, will be gratefully received.
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Ian Fowler
100305.343@compuserve.com
