The Building of a Mbororo Town in East Cameroon
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From les étrangers to les autochtones: The building of a Mbororo town in East Cameroon Anne-Elise Keen Department of Anthropology McGill University, Montréal A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy McGill University Montréal, Québec Copyright Anne-Elise Keen 2018. All rights reserved. Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT: ............................................................................................................................. iv SOMMAIRE: ............................................................................................................................. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 On Belonging: Settlement Patterns of the East Region of Cameroon and their Implications ............................. 7 I. Politicizing Belonging ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Intersection of citizenship, land and belonging........................................................................................................................... 15 II. Autochthony .................................................................................................................................................... 18 Autochthony beyond the state ....................................................................................................................................................... 25 III. The built environment, spatial organization and belonging ........................................................................ 29 Fulbe of West Africa ............................................................................................................................................ 31 Becoming Fulbe ................................................................................................................................................................................ 34 The Exile of Usman dan Fodio and the Creation of the First Fulbe State in Cameroon ................................................... 36 Fulbe and Gbaya encounter ............................................................................................................................................................ 39 Colonial entanglements in Cameroon ........................................................................................................................................... 42 Methodology ....................................................................................................................................................... 46 Outline of the thesis ............................................................................................................................................ 52 CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................................ 55 ARTICULATING BELONGING IN CAMEROON ............................................................ 55 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 58 Identifying the native in the British Cameroons ................................................................................................. 60 Recognizing the ‘native’ in French colonial Cameroon ....................................................................................... 71 Revitalization and politicization of ‘belonging’: A post-colonial endeavour ...................................................... 73 From belonging to the state to belonging to the village ..................................................................................... 76 Movements towards belonging in Cameroon: The Eleventh Region of Cameroon ........................................... 80 Mbororo struggle to belong in Mandjou .............................................................................................................. 81 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................... 87 i CHAPTER 2 ............................................................................................................................ 89 THE QUEST TO BELONG: MBORORO PLACE MAKING IN MANDJOU .................. 89 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 90 A day in the life of Mandjou in 2010 ..................................................................................................................... 91 From the NW to Mandjou: The story of Biri ...................................................................................................... 96 MBOSCUDA and the effort to belong in the NW ............................................................................................. 101 How a stranger to Mandjou becomes a native: land transactions in East Cameroon ....................................... 106 Land titling in Cameroon................................................................................................................................... 115 The Occupation and Production of Land in Mandjou: Biri and his Terrain ..................................................... 122 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 129 CHAPTER 3 ........................................................................................................................... 131 FENCES, MADRASAS AND MILK BARS: THE BUILDING OF A MBORORO TOWN ................................................................................................................................................ 131 Introduction: ...................................................................................................................................................... 133 Part 1: Enclosures, barriers and fences: public expressions of Mbororo piety ................................................... 133 Section I: Islamicization and Mbororo .............................................................................................................. 137 Section II. Building piety through fences: The story of Maimouna .................................................................. 144 Section III: The spatial re-organization of Mandjou and the ‘problem with fences’ ......................................... 151 Part II: The building of pious Mbororo through Islamic Education ................................................................. 153 Section 1: Maimouna’s Islamic education ......................................................................................................... 156 Section II: Drinking milk and being pious: the making of Mandjou’s first milk bar ........................................ 161 Part III: Built environment and place through everyday practices .................................................................... 170 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 178 CHAPTER 4 .......................................................................................................................... 180 LIFE FROM THE MARGINS OF MANDJOU .................................................................. 180 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 182 Tracing Gbaya mobility: The story of Simon and Adeline ................................................................................ 183 History of residential mobility within Gbaya communities ............................................................................... 188 On the move with Adeline ................................................................................................................................. 195 ii The history of Gbaya economic activities: from manioc cultivation to selling land .......................................... 201 Hunting bush meat; raising pigs ....................................................................................................................... 211 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 225 CHAPTER 5 .......................................................................................................................... 226 INTERNATIONAL AUTOCHTONE VERSUS LOCAL AUTOCHTONE: THE BATTLE FOR MANDJOU .................................................................................................. 226 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 229 Distinguishing