African Modernities and Mobilities. An Historical Ethnography of Kom, Cameroon, C. 1800-2008

Description

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. Cover......Page 1 Title page......Page 2 Copyright page......Page 3 Contents......Page 4 Foreword......Page 6 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Chapter 1 - Introduction: Theory and Progress of Kfaang......Page 18 Tradition and Modernity in Kfaang......Page 23 Information Communication Technology (ICTs): Confronting the Stereotype......Page 26 The ‘Construction of Society’......Page 35 The Significance of the book......Page 37 The Anatomy of the Book......Page 39 Proposed History Writing......Page 42 A Brief Description of the Fieldwork Region......Page 44 Kom in the History and Historiography of the Bamenda Grassfields......Page 49 Fieldwork Research......Page 53 Oral Traditions in Kom......Page 61 Fieldwork Experiences......Page 62 Talking and Interacting with People: Towards an Historical Ethnography......Page 63 Target Groups: Women, Men and Youths......Page 66 Conclusion......Page 67 The Creation and Expansion of Kom......Page 70 Political Leadership in Kom......Page 75 The Dynamics of Geographical Mobility......Page 78 Indigenous Industry and the Colonial Situation......Page 79 Geography and Mobility......Page 81 Trade and Mobility......Page 82 The British Period, (tu ingris ) c.1920s-1961......Page 92 The Post-Colonial Period, 1961-2008......Page 94 Conclusion......Page 95 Introduction......Page 98 Colonialism and Road Construction......Page 99 The Fon and the Road Construction......Page 103 Njinikom-Fundong Road, 1955-1959......Page 109 Ngwaah-Abuh-Fujua-Fundong Road, 1959-60......Page 111 Anyajua-Babungo-Belo Road, 1955-1961......Page 112 The Second phase of Bamenda-Kom Road, 1993-1998......Page 113 The Road and Consequences......Page 116 The Congo Bar......Page 119 Conclusion......Page 123 Introduction......Page 124 The Motor Vehicle in Kom......Page 126 The Vehicle and Picture......Page 130 The ‘Domestication’ of Newness (technology, kfaang )......Page 132 Sitting Arrangements and Running Commentaries......Page 135 The Motor Vehicle in Society......Page 138 Motor Vehicles and Social Status......Page 143 Conclusion......Page 146 Introduction......Page 148 Reforms and Reformers, c.1926-c.1966......Page 149 Christians on the Move......Page 153 The Birth of ‘New Men’......Page 164 The Catechist School and ‘Important New Men’......Page 166 Juliana Ekfwi Chiambong and the Credit Union in Kom......Page 172 Conclusion......Page 178 Introduction......Page 180 Education on the Colonial and Missionary Agenda......Page 183 St. Anthony’s School, Njinikom, Kom, 1928......Page 185 Biographical Sketches......Page 189 Chief Anyway Ndichia Timti: A New Model......Page 194 Conclusion......Page 204 Introduction......Page 206 The 1915 Illiterate Ordinance Act and Letter Writing/Writers: An Obsession with Modernity......Page 209 The Emergence of Letter Technology in Kom......Page 211 The Mbain-Missionary Standoff: An example of a Certified Letter Writer......Page 214 Conclusion......Page 220 Introduction......Page 222 Return Migration......Page 223 Social networks of Returned Migrants......Page 225 Returned migrants as the Purveyors of Kfaang and Sharing Kfaang Things......Page 227 Discussion......Page 235 Introduction......Page 242 The First World War and Cameroon: A Short History......Page 243 Recruitment of Soldiers in the Bamenda Grassfields......Page 245 Ex-Soldiers or ‘Fernando Po Repartees’......Page 247 The ex-servicemen and new Appeal of Religious Theology......Page 250 New Romantics: “Love” and “Sex”......Page 251 Ex- Servicemen, 1939-1945 and their encounters......Page 253 Introduction......Page 264 Kom women and the Coast (Itini Kfaang ), situation......Page 265 Women Church, Christianity and Kfaang (Ndo Fiyini Ni iwo Fiyini Kfaang )......Page 268 Royal women in search of kfaang......Page 269 Women, School and literacy (ndogwali kfaang)......Page 272 A Biographical Sketch......Page 278 Fleeing to be free......Page 282 Gently revolutionary......Page 283 In Conclusion......Page 285 Introduction......Page 286 Native Authorities and Foot Messengers......Page 287 Foot Messengers......Page 290 Chiabi Applies for Annual Leave......Page 296 Chiabi’s Daughter and Sister-in-Law Dies......Page 297 Flag Post Mail Relay Runners System......Page 301 Modus Operandi of the Flag Post System......Page 304 Flag Post Mail Relay Runners in Kom (nfi ndo nwali ni chap)......Page 307 The Text Messenger......Page 308 Text Messengers......Page 309 Some Conclusions......Page 311 Introduction......Page 314 Kom-Bamenda Encounter: Kubou’s Compound (a beiKubou ), Old Town......Page 315 Journey from Kom to Old Town (Bamenda), 1928-c.1970s......Page 317 Kubou’s Compound in Cameroon Politics......Page 322 The Significance of Kubou’s Compound for the Creation of ‘Komness’......Page 328 Going to the Coast (Itini Kfaang ), 1928-c.1960s......Page 338 The Kom-Yola Connection......Page 341 Depth and Durability of Kfaang......Page 343 Conclusion......Page 345 Chapter 14 - Conclusion: Kom Identity as Work In Progress......Page 348 Epiphany 1: Some methodological assumptions, conceptual meditations and conclusions......Page 350 Epiphany 2: Kom Cultural Identity and Social Transformation......Page 352 Epiphany 3: “The”......Page 354 Epiphany 4: The Confluence of History and Anthropology: Historiography or Anthropography?......Page 355 Epiphany 5: Kom way of mobility......Page 357 Bibliography......Page 362 Back cover......Page 434