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African Modernities and Mobilities
In this book Walter Gam Nkwi documents the complexities and nuances embedded in African modernities and mobilities which have been overlooked in historical discourses in Africa and Cameroon. Using an ethnographic historical approach and drawing on the intricacies of what it has meant to be and belong in Kom- an ethnic community in the Northwest Region of Cameroon - since 1800, he explores the discourses and practices of kfaang as central to any understanding of mobility and modernity in Kom, Cameroon and Africa at large. The book unveils the emic understanding of modernity through the history and ethnography of kfaang and its technologies and illustrates how these terminologies were conceived and perceived by the Kom people in their social and physical mobilities. It documents and analyzes the historical processes involved in bringing about and making kfaang a defining feature of everyday life in Kom and among Kom subjects.
Discourses in Sport Communication in Africa and the African Diaspora
This book explores sport communication in Africa and the African diaspora. Drawing on multidisciplinary perspectives, it deepens our understanding of the importance of sport in African society as well as the profound and growing influence of the African diaspora in world sport, as athletes, scholars, leaders, and business and media professionals. Including contributions from leading African researchers and experts on sport in Africa across the fields of sociology, history, business, communication studies, media studies, and education, this book examines sport communication across a wide variety of contexts and countries, from the role of radio in developing awareness of the Olympic Games in ...
The 'Glocalization' of Mobile Telephony in West and Central Africa
This book examines the ‘glocalization’ – the adaptation of a global telecommunication technology to local particularities – in West and Central Africa. Through case studies in Cameroon and Guinea, the research presented evinces how local agency leads to the appropriation of mobile telephony, and the extent to which telecommunication companies acculturate their marketing strategies to consumer preferences and local realities. The book interrogates the presumptive neutrality of technology and presents evidence of agency superseding supposedly fixed limitations of use for mobile phones. In opposition to the notion of an Africa ‘lagging’ behind, the book also nuances the development discourse so often associated with the ‘leapfrog’ and spread of mobile telephony south of the Sahara. Overall, this study highlights ways in which agency leads to modernity being refracted locally in West and Central Africa and reflects on the tension at play between ‘globalizers’ and ‘globalized’.
The Sacred Forest
The sacred forest is a concrete place with a rich symbolic meaning. For the Laimbwe ethnic group of the North West Region of Cameroon, it is the centre of the social life, around which the people organize their matrilineal system. Henry Kam Kah describes the origin, development and the changes in matriliny as a gender construction from an insider point of view. Using written material and interviews with 150 persons, he shows how the system overcame all the various challenges since the 18th century, especially the rejection of matriliny by the colonial powers and Christian missionaries. With this study, Henry Kam Kah calls into question different prejudices of a Eurocentric gender research which believes in the dominance of patriarchal structures and the decline of other gender systems under the impact of global influence and pressure. Henry Kam Kah is Senior Lecturer at the Department of History of the University of Buea (Cameroon).
Polygamous Ways of Life Past and Present in Africa and Europe. Polygame Lebensweisen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart in Afrika und Europa
Polygamy is a very complex phenomenon with a long tradition in Africa, but also in Europe. The anthology will contribute to the objectification of the discussion by portraying the variety of polygamous lifestyles showing the interconnections of family structure, social and economic conditions, cultural representations (especially in fictive writing and oral tradition), spiritual meaning and religious legitimation of this way of life between traditional belief, Christianity and Islam. Case studies from different countries in Africa south of the Sahara will be added by historic examples since antiquity in Europe up to the discussion in present times.
African Indigenous Ecological Knowledge Systems
The perspectives in this book reveal how in African anthroposophy, earth-based spiritual traditions and innovative spiritual practices are already emerging in response to the painful realities of climate change, mass extinction, biodiversity loss, and the disruption of local and global ecosystems which have for long not received the attention that it duly deserves. This piece, therefore, will become one of the greatest ornaments and lights in the world of African eco-spirituality as it responds to questions that are long overdue.
The Social Life of Connectivity in Africa
The rapid increase in adoption of modern 'connective' technologies like the mobile phone has reshaped the social landscape of Africa. This book examines the myriad possibilities that the post-global moment offers African societies to develop and to relate, offering profound new insights into the processes of globalization.
Boundaries and History in Africa
This book compromises 26 well-researched essays in honour of Professor Verkijika G. Fanso, who retired in 2011 after over 36 years of distinguished service at universities in Cameroon. Contributors include colleagues, former students and close collaborators in Cameroon and beyond. Contributions cover a wide range of issues related to the contested histories, politics and practices of boundaries and frontiers in Africa. These are themes on which Fanso has researched, published and taught extensively, and earned international recognition as a leading scholar. The book explores, inter alia, indigenous and endogenous practices of boundary making in Africa; as well as colonial and contemporary traditions, practices and conflicts on and around frontiers. In particular focus, are disputed colonial boundaries between Cameroon and its neighbours. Issues of intra- and inter-disciplinary frontiers, politics and cultures are also addressed. The volume is crowned by a farewell valedictory lecture by Fanso. Like Fanso and his rich repertoire of publications, this bumper harvest of essays is without doubt, truly immortalising.
New Architecture of Regional Security in Africa
This book critically explores the emerging architecture of regional security in Africa with particular reference to counterterrorism and counterinsurgency in the Lake Chad Basin Region. In New Architecture of Regional Security in Africa, the contributors--scholars, policy-makers, and defense/security practitioners from both within and outside Africa--examine the evolution, dynamics, and working mechanisms for peace and security or emerging regional security architecture for regional security in the region. The volume will be essential reading for all academics, scholars, and researchers in academia and NGOs with interests in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism related issues in the Lake C...
Old Age, Gender, Social Security in Africa and Europe
In the `Decade of Healthy Ageing’ (UN/WHO), this collection of essays contains interdisciplinary contributions by authors from African and European cultures who address questions about the situation of old people in the past and present, comparing the situation of men and women and focussing on their protection and care within society. While at first glance it appears that the phenomena in the `young’ African countries are completely different from those in European countries, there is a certain convergence between the continents. The challenges of migration, globalisation and the climate crisis are triggering social transformation processes that are weakening older traditions. The focus is on the dissolution of the extended family and the associated loss of the stabilising function within the framework of the so-called intergenerational contract. This development triggers crises. However, new models for organising old age are also developing. Old people are finding new ways to organise their lives.
