Reconsidering Patrimonialization in the Bamun Kingdom Heritage, Image, and Politics from 1906 to the Present

Alexandra Galitzine-Loumpet

ehind the photograph depicting the facade of the royal museum, its importance also resided in the crystallization palace of the kings of Bamun in west Cameroon, of multiple parallel patrimonialization processes, which char- reproduced at two-thirds of its real size, the Chi- acterized the emergence of a “Bamun modernity” between 1895 cago Field Museum also presents a vitrine dedi- and 1933, during the long reign of King Njimoluh, and up to the cated to the Palace Museum.1 The photograph is present. These processes derive from the existence of Bamun not a representation of the original structure cre- script and historiography; the large-scale circulation of photo- ated by King Njoya (ca. 1860–1933) in the 1920s, or of the later graphs and printed materials; means of self-representation; the buildingB established at the palace entrance by his heir King Nji- continuous presence from the end of the nineteenth century moluh (r. 1933–1992), but rather it encapsulates the fourth ver- of external third parties, namely Muslim proselytes, Protestant sion produced by a Swiss expert during palace repair works in missionaries, colonial administrators, researchers, and even 1985 (Bosserdet 1985). Another restructuring was carried out in internal opponents who stimulated creations or reactions; and 1996 and the latest, involving the construction of a new museum, the personality of protagonists, specifically that of King Njoya. is ongoing.2 The Field Museum vitrine is therefore obsolete and The reciprocal influence of the diverse actors and vectors must has always been incomplete. It does, however, acknowledge the be viewed in a synchronic manner in order to bring out the con- existence of an endogenous patrimonial process, presenting tiguous and often antagonistic patrimonial arenas and, conse- objects presumed representative of it, namely masks, a portrait of quently, the modalities of articulating politics and patrimony in King Mbuembue (r. first half of the nineteenth century), objects the Bamun kingdom. associated with King Njoya, manuscripts in Bamun script, and products of the encounter with the European world. As artificial BAMUN CONCEPTIONS OF PATRIMONY as it may seem, this mise en abyme of an “African” museum in a The existence of patrimonial processes seems to be integrated “Western” museum is therefore significant. into a social organization founded on the capitalization of bor- In the mid-1920s, there already existed a museumlike institu- rowings. From the founding of the kingdom, probably in the tion in the royal palace founded by King Njoya following the dis- seventeenth century, a desire for autonomy from his homeland mantling of his kingdom by the French colonial administration. led the first king to use the language and elements of the ritu- Unique in Cameroon and Central Africa, this display, which als of conquered peoples. This policy of incorporating captured corresponded more to an exhibition of dynastic legitimacy and peoples, rituals, and later artistic techniques continued beyond of a “royal treasury” than a museum per se, responded primarily the arrival of the first Europeans in July 1902. Fundamental in to a local political agenda. In fact, the stakes of controlling rega- maintaining political prominence in the cultural region called lia pitted the palace museum against the collection put together the Grassfields, the politics of incorporation required a balance by the King’s cousin, Mosé Yeyap (ca. 1875–1941), a Christian- between processes of innovation and stabilization, both of which ized interpreter at the local colonial post. While this context of fall within the powers of the king, in modified forms, up to the increasing political tensions was central to the creation of the present. As a result, patrimonial processes were closely linked to

68 | african arts SUMMER 2016 VOL. 49, NO. 2 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 68 19/02/2016 4:20 PM power wielding at various levels, and the power-patrimony paradigm was continuously reconfigured. Principle of heritage: from ruin to patrimony. The continuity of the power-patrimony paradigm is portrayed in the methods of transmitting and inheriting titles as property. The referent is the method of dynastic transmission, reproduced in lineages and families (Tardits 1980, Wasaki 1992). The new king “ascends to the throne of Nshare Yen,” founder of the dynasty, as the heir of an office that incarnates his forefathers. With each enthronement, the ruler reaches back multiple generations, re-entrench- ing an ancestral figure in the present. In assuming this statutory and symbolic heritage, the heir also receives objects related to 1 Lewa symbols (ca. 1896) for “king” and lineage and rank—that is, both the property belonging to the “kingdom” (Dugast & Jeffreys 1952; Galitzine- private family sphere and a right to insignia of external represen- Loumpet 2011a) tation or public attributes such as the machete, spear, cap, and royal blue and white ntieya fabric. Between these two spheres are found objects specific to enthronement, given by the king to his son in the palace, which include specific durable insignia such as a single brass bell called a süre and, since since the early twenti- transmission of royal power and its function of invoking dynas- eth century, a long Islamic robe called a gandoura, as well as an tic continuity, but because it supposes an external conception organic object, a red turaco feather generally kept in the house of imposed on internal and local usages. a maternal uncle. Transmission is thus ensured through internal A translation process: iconography and script. Preceding the and related measures, besides lineage. arrival of Europeans by several decades, the first major docu- The importance attached to maintaining patrilineal transmis- mented transformation of Bamun society is linked to the intro- sion underlies the conception of patrimony. As underscored by duction of Islam. The presence of Hausa traders from the 1860s, Germain Loumpet (forthcoming), the terms associated with followed in approximately 1894 by Fulani cavalry from Banyo patrimony are related to the notion of m’fom. Depending on the during the civil war of Gbetnkom Ndombouo, popularized the word stress, this monosyllabic word has the following meanings: dissemination of copies of the Qu’ran and the wearing of long M’foM /sacred place/ or /cemetery/ of the njis (sacred place circum- robes. Islam and its material culture appeared then as the vectors scribed by a ficus hedge); of a new political power, and it is probably this point that inter- ested the young King Njoya when he invented the first version of M’fOm /ruin/, as in Mfomben, the ruins of Mbem,3 from which the the Bamun script around 1895. capital of the kingdom derived its name, that is an abandoned, for- In several accounts, Bamun script is a medium of conserva- saken place; tion and patrimonialization. Not only did it enable the emergence, between 1906–1910, of an official royal historiography, Fom /dull, dusty/ ill-kept (an old thing, an unswept house, aban- drafted in later cursive versions of the writing, as well as coun- doned property). ternarratives from persons opposed to the king, but its very first A sacred place where the prince (nji) goes in circumstances ideographic version, lewa, also acted to conserve iconographic that threaten the very existence of the lineage, to which access is signifiers transformed by the revealed religions. The most vivid otherwise forbidden under pain of a curse and death, the cem- example is perhaps that of the stylized spider, the meaning etery of lineage heads (m’fom) is also a place of conservation par of which, imposed by Islam and later by craftsmen, is “work.” excellence, where objects can be kept in greater safety than any- The original meaning, however, is “wisdom” or “truth,” in line where else.4 The major patrimonialization paradigm is therefore with the creature’s divinatory function. The trapdoor spider is a conception based on the dread of discontinuity and of rupture, the messenger of the ancestors that also delivers their message but also on the demarcation of sacred places. While the existence by dreams assimilated to spider webs. More generally, a semio- of ruins evokes a curse (ndon), the Bamun nevertheless respect logical analysis of lewa shows the predominance of square and ruins as a place where something had existed and continues to rectangular signs for designating space and triangular signs for maintain a presence. From this standpoint, the same ambivalent social status. Ontological signs are circular, while radiating signs word designates both the patrimony of a lineage and its possible indicate periodicity and duration. Lastly, the sign of the king, absence, its material (cemetery) and immaterial (lineage trans- mfon, combines space (a square), with status and position (a dia- mission) aspects. mond terminating in circles) (Fig. 1). This ideographic system It is therefore possible to consider the need for lineages, as therefore recalls the more ancient iconographic one and is found with the palace, to continuously maintain and add on a level both in the form of the throne (a round chair on a square base) both symbolic and actual. The value of patrimony stems from and on the map of the kingdom (Galitzine-Loumpet 2011b). the capacity to incorporate additional elements taken or bor- Moreover, the more ancient iconographic system as well as lewa rowed from others. The distinct notion of collective patrimony functions, with nuances, at the level of the micro-states through- must thus be underscored, not because it was absent from the out the region called the Grassfields.

VOL. 49, NO. 2 SUMMER 2016 african arts | 69 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 69 19/02/2016 4:20 PM 2 “Objets remarquables du travail Bamoun.” F. Gadmer, Ministry of Culture (France) Medi- athèque de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine. Photo : © Réunion des musées nationaux— Grand Palais

King Njoya and his entourage were certainly not aware of The photographic medium and the art market: the skull, the the double patrimonial function with which the lewa signs throne, and European appreciation. Major political and symbolic were a posteriori invested, no more than we can fathom the events explain the introduction of new patrimonial paradigms local evidence of iconographic readings. The means of transi- between 1906 and 1910. The first patrimonialization process is tion from one system of graphic communication to another, linked to the restitution of the skull of King Nsangu (r. ca. 1865– however, highlights the importance attached to the notion of 1885), King Njoya’s father, during the joint German-Bamun expe- permanence and reincorporation, the functionality of icono- dition against the neighbouring Banso Kingdom in 1906. This graphic signs being transferred to the ideograms of a version of episode was crucial for a young, contested king and also corre- writing that was itself evolving. Seven versions were ultimately sponds with the beginning of his great historiographical work required, the latest dating to 1910, for the Bamun script to be entitled “Book of Past Things and Wars among the Bamun” (Nda able to serve a wide variety of purposes, including historiogra- lewa nga pamom pua pit). The return of the skull opened a field phy, etiquette and palace administration, accounting, pharma- of reciprocity and recognition between the Germans and the copoeia, and various narratives. Bamun within which objects were immediately integrated. This exchange was at first political, as part of the old game of alliances PATRIMONIALIZATION IN THE COLONIAL SITUATION between peers. An example is the effigy statue offered to the -Ger The arrival of the Germans on July 6, 1902, further trans- man authorities at the death in 1908 of Captain Glauning, a friend formed the perception of objects by introducing new regimes of the king who was very closely involved in the acquisition of of value. These involved a distancing, as attested to by various objects for the Museum of Berlin (Geary 1994:25, 2011:49–55). events, photographs, and letters. Several periods can thus be These exchanges were thereafter rapidly monetarized. King Njoya distinguished, which are not exclusively chronological. The became the authority over a new value of objects which he could first period (ca. 1902–1920), itself divided into many stages, is transfer, keep, or try to monetize beyond the normal circles within that of the encounter and gradual matching between various which objects were disseminated. patrimonial processes. It corresponds to the emergence of a A posteriori, the most outstanding episode of the ongoing trans- market and can hardly be discussed without mentioning the formations is undoubtedly King Njoya’s visit to Buea in 1908. growing influence of the photographic medium. It ended with The main intent of this journey was to present the German gov- the reassertion of royal power for a short period correspond- ernor with a promised copy of the Bamun throne. The copy of ing to World War I. The second era (ca. 1924–1940) is that of the throne was not completed on time. It was the throne of his the emancipation of the category of “Bamun art.” Patrimony father, King Nsangu, that King Njoya reluctantly removed from became a field of direct confrontation. For King Njoya, it was a the palace premises, then from the fortified town of Fumban, and period of relinquishment in favor of new actors and patrimo- beyond the Noun border river—a journey that crossed various nial media. Finally, the last period, which appeared in the mid- fundamental concentric thresholds in the conception of the pure- 1940s and continues until the present under renewed forms, ness of the kingdom. It was the throne of the king of the Bamun, is marked by the patrimonialization of the early actors, prin- still recognized by small neighboring kingdoms; but it was already cipally King Njoya himself. I will come back to these different considered as an object, a gift intended for Emperor Wilhem II, phases and also underscore the introduction of new vectors of when King Njoya posed in front of the throne while wearing a patrimonialization, namely photography and drawings. pseudo-German uniform, his transformation a metaphor for that

70 | african arts SUMMER 2016 VOL. 49, NO. 2 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 70 19/02/2016 4:20 PM 3 Mosé Yeyap (in the middle), n.d. (Dec. 1929?). Photo: © Ethnography Museum of Geneva

of the object. In Buea, the royal present became a trophy for the the king, other authors preferred more open shots comprising Governor, and it took at least two decades for the throne to finally architectural objects and elements aimed at documenting the be exhibited as a masterpiece of African art (Galitzine-Loumpet Bamun Kingdom. This external approach for a long time influ- 2008, Oberhofer 2012:36). Initially, the radical metamorphosis was enced the relationship between the Bamun people and their considered a misunderstanding, as King Njoya did not receive the photographed image. Having quickly realized the symbolic tokens of gratitude he expected, such as European horses, guns, and political importance of photographs, King Njoya, as early and clothing. One can imagine the effect produced by this sep- as 1912, arranged his own pictures taken with his various wives, aration through the continuous production, to date, of Bamun the most famous being the head-and-shoulder pictures of him- counter narrations. King Njoya’s transformation of disappointment self and Queen Ndayie, both wearing partially European garb into the mastery of new European techniques (Njoya 1952:135) was and in unusual poses.5 Other photographs of the same series are matched by popular explanations of a Bamun ruse, maintaining conserved in King Njimoluh’s office in the royal palace. These that the “real” throne was in Fumban. images are related to a series of portraits of queens largely with The introduction of this distinction in use constituted an bare chests.6 Were these photographs of the same period and important new element which paved the way for the liberaliza- personally selected by the king? It is likely. These pictures of the tion of the royal rights to materials and motifs through reforms palace highlight the existence of parallel standards and call into initiated by King Njoya between 1910–1920 in the areas of the question the dominant canons. rights of ownership and sale. Henceforth, many materials, pat- What should be noted here is the influence of photographs terns, and articles of clothing were usable by or accessible to the on the development of an art market. This patrimonialization most affluent, irrespective of their rank. A Bamun art market through photographs was somehow doubled ten years later with was being gradually established under the control of the king, the arrival of French colonial military, and later civilian authori- but with the support of a new vector, namely photography. ties, who replaced the defeated Germans and the British in May The photographic medium. The value of objects was mostly 1916. In turn, the French discovered “Bamun art” and an export contingent upon the dissemination of German photographs of market that was already employing a significant number of objects. The photographic plates were developed on the spot and people. In 1917, Frederic Gardmer, an army photographer, thus immediately became part of a system of gift-giving and prestige documented the various trades and the “outstanding objects pro- property, raising great interest on the part of the royal family duced by the Bamun people” (Fig. 2).7 In addition to this interest (Geary 1988:37). in “Bamun craft,” photography, from 1920, began documenting The objective and future of photographs were therefore vari- the growing conflict between King Njoya and the French colo- ous and, at times, oppositional depending on whether they were nial administration. taken by Europeans or Bamun. The codes of representation An intermediate era: World War I. The years 1914–1918, which and technical know-how were European, however; Christraud correspond to the defeat of the Germans, the departure in cap- Geary mentions the dissemination of ethnographic conven- tivity of the Swiss missionaries, the transit of the British regi- tions through a number of colonial-era pictures (1988:34). While ments of the Indian Army, and the establishment in May 1916 close-ups and frontal portraits of individuals dominated the of the French military administration marked the reassertion of often intimate photographs taken by the Swiss missionary royal power as well as a reconsideration of the political and pat- Anna Wuhrmann, who had particularly friendly relations with rimonial dimension of the Bamun writing.

VOL. 49, NO. 2 SUMMER 2016 african arts | 71 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 71 19/02/2016 4:20 PM Bamum text disclosed that, “The Sultan was very angry when he learned that Christians were speaking and writing about all that was bad about the country and giving [it] to strangers to enable them to see the basis of the country’s secrets” (Njoya and Pepuere 2006). In fact, these two notebooks belonging to Pas- tor Göhring contained a version of the Bamun history, descrip- tions of the Nja ceremonial dance, and an account of the late nineteenth century war with Banso. They were not, therefore, a counternarration of the official historiography collected at the palace but, more precisely, the hijacking of the royal prerogative to compose history. This event attests to the progressive detach- ment from King Njoya and the palace from the processes of patrimonialization. Collections and drawings. The liberalization of the production of objects in the 1910s opened a new production space still under the control of the king. Up to 1920, “Bamun art” concerned objects mostly produced for European museums and foreigners in transit, alongside a considerable production of objects commissioned by the king. Thus, in 1924, King Njoya could still commission a portrait of King Mbuembue. Moreover, owing to its exceptional nature, linked to Bamun historiography and not to a specific rit- ual, this object highlighted changes that took place right within the palace. An art of reaction: the influence of Mosé Yeyap. The change that took place at the end of the 1920s directly resulted from the degradation of the political situation and portrays its par- oxysm. In late 1919, Lieutenant Prestat’s poisoning accusation8 led to the deportation of the king’s close associates to Campo on 4 “Afrique joyeuse” exercise book published by the Evangelical Mission of Paris publishing house the Cameroonian coast. Those deported included Ibrahim Njoya around 1950, based on a picture by A. Wurhmann (ca. 1887–1966), an accomplished scribe, sketcher, and sculp- (ca. 1912). The exercise book belonged to Ibrahim tor. In 1920, the royal schools were closed, the use of Bamun Njoya and was intended for Pastor J.R. Brustch. Photo: © Archives Défap—Société protestante de script banned, and the lost-wax cast characters used for print- Mission (Paris) ing in Bamun script destroyed. In 1924, another shady case was used as a pretext to break up the Bamun kingdom. Placed under house arrest in his palace and later at his country estate to the east in Mantum, the king’s prerogatives were drastically reduced and his political power shared among several paramount chiefs. The same measures eliminated Nguon tributes and ceremonies and created a handicraft center separate from the palace, located Once again a master of the political game, King Njoya also near the colonial post. As can be seen, these measures affected tried to reaffirm his position symbolically. These short-lived the entirety of royal authority, which did not distinguish art golden years were marked by major projects aimed at portray- from politics. ing royal capability and quality: the invention in 1915 of the syn- The influence of Mosé Yeyap in the conflicts that led to the cretic religion Nwet Kwete; the drawing of a map of the kingdom exile and eventual death of King Njoya seems clear. Literate in beginning in 1913, followed by one of Fumban; the strengthen- Bamun, German, and French, he occupied a central position in ing of the royal schools for learning Bamun writing through the the colonial administration and was the only one who openly appointment of literate Bamun Christians; and the beginning, challenged the king. There is, however, the danger of attributing finally, of construction work on the new palace in 1917. all the transformations that took place during this period just to The year 1918 marked a first turning point. Under the super- the confrontation between two personalities and of minimizing vision of the missionary pastor Elie Allégret, Governor Lucien the general context which Yeyap, nevertheless, used remarkably Fourreau imposed religious freedom, further freeing the Chris- well. The people’s discontent at a changing Bamun society was tianized elite from royal control, and appointed Mosé Yeyap as certainly exploited, but one of the lasting effects of the informal a writer and interpreter at the colonial post. Decisive for subse- alliance between the French Protestant mission and the colo- quent events, the context of this appointment can only be under- nial administration was the invention of “Bamun custom,” that stood within a particular episode, namely the discovery of two is, a filtered and controlled tradition that was a pivotal element history notebooks written in Bamun script in the Basel mission, of social control on which French peace was based (Galitzine- abandoned after the German defeat in 1916. In particular, a later Loumpet 2011a).

72 | african arts SUMMER 2016 VOL. 49, NO. 2 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 72 19/02/2016 4:20 PM It can be suggested, however, that the confrontation between In contrast to Yeyap, there were few or no photographs of the two men signaled the emergence of a modern concept of pat- the king in the late 1920s. King Njoya’s political eclipse corre- rimony born of the conflicts between legitimacy and ambition, sponded to his disappearance from photographs. Although in politics and art. In the Bamun context, patrimony derived from a the early 1920s King Njoya still posed for missionaries in front of kind of political art of reaction between two individuals and two his throne, pictures gradually shifted focus to Bamun Christians social representations, each trying to outbid the other. A graph or handicraft activities, which became increasingly popular. derived from various sources presents the following approximate This disappearance was noticeable on postcards, calendars, and sequence of events (see Timeline). What the colonial admin- exercise books ordered by the Evangelical Mission of Paris and istration saw as the loss of royal prestige and secularization of circulated in Fumban. Other personalities emerged, for exam- a sacred art, Bamun considered a political struggle. While the ple Daniel Panjuene (1899–1925), a young convert who died of administration was not completely deceived, it was slow in fath- tuberculosis at the age of 25 and who became the representation oming individual ambitions beyond its own motivations. of “L’Afrique joyeuse,” or “Happy Africa” (Fig. 4). Representing objects. Postcards published by the Evangeli- Thus, the exile of Njoya, his death and burial in Fumban, cal Mission of Paris and by various photo studios established in and the enthronement of his heir were barely documented. My Cameroon bore testimony to this symbolic field of battle. The assumption is that this eclipse contributed to the establishment very act of collecting objects from the extended lineages and of the “palace museum” and Bamun drawings, as the latter first keeping them in one’s home should be understood—as it is to acted as local photographs. this date in the Bamun kingdom—as an open challenge to royal From regalia to museum. Bamun kings inherited, ordered, and power. A photograph showing Mosé Yeyap standing in front of displayed objects and regalia, part of which was strictly reserved various objects and the authority conferred on him by his central for royal use and, hence, referred to using a name in a restricted position revealed his political influence (Fig. 3). Several pictures language out of the ordinary. One of the royal functions was to represented him standing in front of his collection in a compo- preserve these items for ceremonies, while others were to be sition using court codes. In the Bamun arena, this visual mes- kept strictly secret. The statuses and uses of palace objects were, sage is unequivocal, all the more so as the king’s cousin did not therefore, diverse. At no prior moment, however, did all of them hide his dynastic ambitions. It was not only the representation form a “museum” collection from the European perspective. of “Bamun tradition” to foreigners, but also a challenge spatially The permanent and public exhibition of royal objects in a place inscribed on a hill facing the palace, at the summit of the handi- reserved for that purpose was a new and unprecedented act. craft street and below the colonial administration. It was not Yet most studies use the word “museum” as an obvious cat- only the exhibition of rank-related attributes, but also the repre- egory (Dell 2013:38, Geary 1983, Nelson 2007:2). This a poste- sentation of a new modernity. riori interpretation seems problematic, as neither the date of Yeyap was also an active supplier of objects, either to vari- establishment of the “museum” nor the public display of the ous missionaries or directly. The archives of the Ethnography objects collected by Mosé Yeyap were confirmed before 1929. Museum of Geneva contain correspondence between its direc- The notion of collection seems more appropriate. Officially tor Eugène Pittard and Yeyap (Morin 2014:6–7), which is all the geared towards organizing Bamun handicraft, Yeyap’s collec- more important as it also attests to the sale of palace objects dur- tion underwent the transformations desired by the French. The ing King Njoya’s exile and the regency that ensued. creation of the Museum of Bamun Arts and Tradition in 1947

TIMELINE (QUESTIONABLE DATA IN ITALICS)

Date Njoya/Royal Power Yeyap/Colonial and Missionary Power Contemporary Regalia kept in the palace, used during various ceremonies. Period 1919 Social upheavals in Fumban/Exile of artists close to the king. 1920 Map of the Bamun kingdom started in 1913. Settling of the French protestant mission. Destruction of Bamun printing characters. Closure of royal schools. Banning of the use of writing. Late 1923 Completion of construction work on the current palace. Start of object collection by Yeyap. 1924 May 26: Break-up of the kingdom. Establishment of the handicraft center. Reduction of palace spending and revenue. Yeyap’s collections derived from the lineages and orders from Njoya orders King Mbuembue’s portrait. craftsmen. Njoya resides in Mantum. Start of construction of Yeyap’s “museum” at Njimon, near his house. Dec. 28, 1929 Royal portraits and drawings of the Bamun dynasty. Exhibition of sacred palace objects in public at the instigation of Yeyap, Creation of an exhibition hall in the palace. in the presence of Governor Carde, King Njoya and many missionaries. 1930 Construction of a "main museum," in the handicraft neighborhood. 1931 March 12: exile of King Njoya to Efoulan, Yaounde. Photograph of Yeyap in front of his “museum.” Exhibition of Bamun objects in the Togo-Cameroon Pavilion, colonial exhibition, Paris. Sale of palace objects at Ethnography Museum of Geneva at Yeyap’s instigation. 1933 May 30: death of King Njoya in exile.

VOL. 49, NO. 2 SUMMER 2016 african arts | 73 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 73 19/02/2016 4:20 PM 5 King Njoya (picture by Ankermann, 1908). Photo: © Ethnologisches Museum Berlin

6 King Nsangu, Ibrahim Njoya (ca. 1928–1930). Photo: © Ethnography Museum of Geneva

7 Mfon Nsangu. n.d., Anonymous. Photo: © Archives of DEFAP—Société protestante de Mission (Paris), Paris

was a new phase in which the palace participated and which I ter of spears, ivory, and royal ntieya fabric. His bust was directly will discuss later. inspired, to the smallest detail, by a photograph taken with his At a still imprecise date, but probably around late 1929, King wife in 1912. Njoya created what Gebauer described in 1931 as a “museum” In the same vein, the representations of the other kings were (Gebauer 1971), that is to say a public exhibition area—an based on the photographs of King Njoya, as for example in an equally imprecise point because many objects were forbidden to anthropometric profile produced by Bernhard Anckerman in 1908 women and the uninitiated, and even when abandoned the pal- (Figs. 5–7). The principle was thereafter abundantly used. Preserved ace remained a sacred place. There is a lingering terminological on tracing paper and reproduced in many drawings showing the ambiguity on the issue: Geary uses the words pa nju (“things of king alone or with his peers, this practice attested to the incorpora- the world,” or by extension “things of the palace”) (1983:ix) and tion, once again, of one medium in another. It also demonstrated some scholars employ nda ngu (“house of the country”) to, at the number and dissemination of pictures and the importance times, refer to the palace museum and in some cases, by extension given locally to photographs as elements of power. There were varia- and erroneously, the palace (nshut). Actually, neither the palace tions in the composition of drawings—care was given to framing museum nor the palace are nda ngu, which today refers specifi- devices that served to adapt and strengthen the visual idioms of cally to a secret place where the “bags of the country,” containing European sovereignty through positioning and framing.9 Although the nails and hair of the deceased kings and other enthronement it is difficult today to give the exact number of drawings in circula- objects, are kept. Likening the museum to nda ngu reveals the tion around 1930 and their various uses, it seems certain that Ibra- absence of an appropriate indigenous term, and it would be inter- him Njoya was not the only renowned sketcher. esting to know the moment when the Western word was imposed Drawings reportedly featured in the political arena, at least locally, the change of name serving as an indicator of the transfor- until the death of King Njoya. They were, however, quickly aes- mation of sacred objects into cultural property. Lastly, the name of theticized, as illustrated by the fate reserved for the map of the the museum has itself undergone changes, from the Museum of kingdom: this major work was classified in the generic category King Njoya to the Royal Palace Museum and, in the most recent of “Bamun drawings.” It was acquired by Pastor Jean Russillon in construction project, to the Museum of Bamun Kings. 1937, and it was under the name of the sketcher, and not of the king Invention of Bamun drawing. The development of Bamun who commissioned it, that it became part of the collections of the drawing seemed to counter the increasing invisibility of the Ethnography Museum of Geneva (Galitzine-Loumpet 2011b). king. The timeline for the drawings is still uncertain. However, Two other works enhanced the ambivalent status of drawings Ibrahim Njoya, the king’s cousin and close aide, made very early and the diversity of sponsors. The Drawing of Objects, acquired drawings around 1915 of royal manuscript decorations and maps by Russillon on the same date as the map, was an astonishing of the kingdom and the town. Royal portraits appeared in the picture (Fig. 8), a visual inventory in which almost all of the late 1920s and seemed from the outset to fall within the politi- palace museum objects were meticulously drawn (Savary 1979) cal/memorial register. King Njoya occupied a place of honor at and which was very certainly a European commission. For what the center of the dynastic drawing, standing or sitting in front of purpose precisely was it created? In a way, this image exposed the palace entrance, holding a book and surrounded by the main the king’s impotence, finally robbing him of his right to regalia. regalia, including the throne, the mujemndu double gong, a clus- It thus highlighted again the political and patrimonial stakes of

74 | african arts SUMMER 2016 VOL. 49, NO. 2 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 74 19/02/2016 4:20 PM 8 Drawing of Objects. Ibrahim Njoya (ca. 1935–37?) Photo: © Ethnography Museum of Geneva cumscription within a henceforth closed timeframe. Symptom- atically, his successor, Njimoluh, was enthroned in June 1933 as “heir to Bamun kings” and the first photographs of his reign controlling objects and the diversity of patrons and intermediar- referred to him exclusively as “King of Fumban.” ies; that is, it underlined the existing balance of power. The visitors’ book of Mosé Yeyap’s collection and later of the CONTEMPORARY PATRIMONIALIZATIONS Museum of Bamun Arts and Tradition is a second interesting Patrimonializing the royal function: the reign of King Njimoluh element. Produced by Ibrahim Njoya, the book is bound in elab- (r. 1933–1992). The long reign of King Seidou Njimoluh (1902– orately decorated leather with brass inlays and comprises sev- 1992) started in 1933 in a deeply troubled context. The new king eral pages of portraits of Bamun kings, alongside other drawings was imposed by the colonial authority against the wishes of Mosé such as art works, patterns, etc. The earliest signatures date back Yeyap, who was gradually sidelined from the affairs of the king- to 1936 (Fig. 9).10 Thanks to this work, dynastic representations dom. Reduced by the colonial administration and paramount were finally freed from palace control and entered the sphere of chiefs, the royal power was an empty shell and the vacancy of the Bamun art, and the existence of a museum open to Europeans throne during King Njoya’s exile had led to an abandoned palace. was legitimated. Yet King Seidou Njimoluh is credited with gradually reasserting The canons established by Ibrahim Njoya mostly for dynas- royal power (Fig. 13). His greatness resided in his use of the pat- tic genealogies (Figs. 10–12) and disseminated in an increasing rimonial process by orienting it towards King Njoya, making of number of public media (Galitzine-Loumpet 2002), including his reign a “golden age” of the kingdom at the time of the Euro- commemorative fabrics worn by the king, were preserved by the pean arrival, and exploiting the population’s general weariness artists who succeeded him. The use of a photographic model, with the excesses of the paramount chiefs. At the end of World and later drawings as models, was maintained in the works of War II, with the emergence of the struggle for independence, the artist Daïrou, who became the major proponent of Ibrahim he was aided in his endeavor to patrimonialize King Njoya by Njoya’s formal canons, and in a current lost-wax bronze work.11 a powerful maternal cousin, Senator Njoya Arouna (1908–1971), King Njoya’s local and colonial opponents could be credited Paramount Chief of Njinka and “representative of Bamun tradi- with the first patrimonializations of his works and their cir- tional chiefs to the French Government” up to 1947.

VOL. 49, NO. 2 SUMMER 2016 african arts | 75 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 75 19/02/2016 4:20 PM (top) 9 Visitors’ Book. Ibrahim Njoya, ca. 1935–36. The canon is the same as that of earlier royal portraits and drawings of cavalry used in many other drawings by Ibrahim Njoya. Photo: © G. Loumpet

(middle, l–r) 10 Inner wall of the Palace of Bamun Kings, by Daïrou, commissioned by the King Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya. Photo: © A. & G. Loumpet, August 2015

11 King Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, Nguon ceremonies 2006. Photo: © A. & G. Loumpet, August 2015.

(bottom) 12 Portraits of Kings Mbuembue and Njoya, by Ismaela Puetuenchi based on photographs and drawings. Photo: © A. & G. Loumpet, August 2015

This cautious policy played on deep symbolic connotations. Limited to the realm of tradition, Njimoluh made use of his prerogatives. As of 1935, he ordered the return of the instruments of the Mbansie society which had been hidden in the 1920s. The following year, he convened the emissaries of the Nguon cere- mony, which had been banned in 1924. The Nguon was again called in 1958, 1963, 1976, and 1985. Njimoluh also moved the collections to his father’s office in the palace and brought back some craftsmen to reside close to the palace (Tardits 2004:58). Lastly, in 1944, he created the Bamun Acad- emy devoted to Bamun historiography on the model of French Academy (Académie française). In 1947, the king reportedly participated in the creation of the new Museum of Bamun Arts and Tra- dition by the French Institute of Black Africa, comprising Yeyap’s collection, which was bought back to his heirs, and some palace objects (Lecoq 1951:137). Thus Njimoluh began the complex patrimonialization of the figure of King Njoya, supported by both the palace, for purposes of legitimation, and by new actors.

76 | african arts SUMMER 2016 VOL. 49, NO. 2 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 76 19/02/2016 4:20 PM 13 King Njimoluh, ca. 1940 Photo: © Ethnography Museum of Geneva

The Bamun Academy and the stakes of translating Bamun his- a new timeline which gave value and legitimacy to the Western per- toriography. The minutes of the Bamun Academy sessions are an ception of the past. Extending as far back as 1394, the foundation important source yet to be studied. The first session, held on March date of the kingdom has been contested since the 1950s, but still 14, 1944, addressed an audience made up of paramount chiefs and continued to be the basis of the official timeline, thus becoming part Njoya’s close aides. The objective was a translation of King Njoya’s of a local patrimonialization process (Fig. 14).13 book “Bamun History.” From the 1940s at least, the translation of The sessions of the Academy, scheduled to meet every week, this work into Bamun alphabetic writing became a major challenge, quickly came under colonial control. In 1956, a new academy and no less than six parallel versions were mentioned, each time was founded and the paramount chiefs were no longer admitted. bringing together a team around the personalities at the time: the Its proceedings, however, brought to the palace historiographies king, Mosé Yeyap, and the French pastor Henri Martin.12 written by many authors. The stakes of historiography came to The first act by the Academy, however, was “a correction on the overlap with those of objects and accounted for the abundant solemn handing over of the skull of Nsangu, sultan of Bamun killed productions of local, generally self-published writings mainly on in Banso” (Njimoluh 2006). The Academy furthermore introduced the history of lineages or the reign of King Njoya.

VOL. 49, NO. 2 SUMMER 2016 african arts | 77 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

Patrimonialization of King Njoya. Publications and activities LEGITIMACY AND PATRIMONIAL ONE-UPMANSHIP were part of the patrimonialization of the figure of King Njoya, Since the reign of King Njoya, the legitimacy of a new king thus which his successor steadfastly pursued, increasing commem- seems to be based on patrimonial measures. The king not only orations and monuments. In April 1953, King Njimoluh com- incarnated dynastic continuity, he was compelled to regularly memorated the twentieth anniversary of King Njoya’s death.14 reiterate his capability to patrimonialize—that is to say, to inno- In the late 1950s, he welcomed Claude Tardits, author of the vate through politically harnessing the past. Since the antagonism first monograph on the kingdom, which soon became a refer- between King Njoya and Yeyap, each king has had to grapple with ence within the palace itself. The idea of refurbishing the palace the emergence of internal contestations of royal prerogative which and its museum and building a statue emerged in the mid-1960s show to what extent patrimonial issues have, for a century, been (Gabus 1967). The palace restoration was completed in 1985, the entrenched in a founding context of political tensions. centenary of King Njoya’s accession to the throne and the fifti- eth anniversary of the enthronement of King Njimoluh, thereby marking the beginning of a new heritage policy of the various kings. Lastly, the king patrimonialized the name itself, and was henceforth called by a double name, Njimoluh Njoya, a practice that his successor also pursued. Njimoluh also ordered a new throne in the 1970s (Figs. 15–16). These combined actions transformed King Njoya into a national and, gradually, pan-African and diasporic hero. The patrimonialized figure of King Njoya and his close associates, however, quickly became entangled in local and national matters. Royal proximity developed into a guarantee of political legitimacy, and publications on the subject began to multiply (Njiasse Njoya et al. 1984, Lietmbuo et al. 1992). Ceremonies were, therefore, abundantly photographed to document the relative status of the participants by photo studios established in the 1950s (Geary 2013), while individual “self-patrimonialized” pictures became popular (Fig. 17). Private object collections were established, like that of Nji Mombe, the king’s uncle (mambamfon), and of his son, both members of a Christianized elite closed to the palace. Once more under palace control, royal patrimonializations were pursued by associates while continuing to serve as a medium for internal or regional contestation.

78 | african arts SUMMER 2016 VOL. 49, NO. 2 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 78 19/02/2016 4:21 PM 17 Bamun notable, n.d., probably from the studio of Nji Mouliom Oumarou, also known as Nji Photog- rapher. Wearing the mpelet headdress reserved for princes suggests high social rank. Photo: A Loumpet

18 Museum of Bamun Kings. Photo: Dossier de mécénat, http://fr.calameo.com/ books/001136666b5d72984409a

On this point, King Mbuombuo Njoya, who succeeded his recently constructing a new museum which, we cannot but note, father in 1992, seems to have implemented a double policy. On combines all the symbols of royalty and Bamun identity. This the one hand, he instituted a regular periodization of Nguon cer- latter project takes the patrimonial concept to a new level, pre- emonies, which became biennial, and increased activities within senting an idealized international collaboration as illustrated by Nguon. On the other hand, he increasingly monumentalized the museum project presentation document, albeit relying on a patrimony by transforming and creating new edifices (includ- tested process in Bamun history, namely a presumption of equal- ing a memorial to King Njimoluh inaugurated during the first ity with the greatest world institutions (Figs. 18–19). Nguon of his reign in 1993), restructuring the palace museum In the late 1990s, the king also had plans to transform King Nji- during the building of the palace hospital in 1996, and more moluh’s apartments into a museum or to produce a replica of King

VOL. 49, NO. 2 SUMMER 2016 african arts | 79 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 79 19/02/2016 4:21 PM 19 Museum of Bamun Kings, works progress (March 2015). Photo: © G. Loumpet Njoya’s earlier thatched raffia timber palace at the town entrance.15 But heritage and museum processes still proved challenging in different ways. On the one hand, Adamou Ndam Njoya, a political figure who was capable of initiating his own heritage policy and publications on King Njoya, spearheaded an internal protest. On the other hand, art object vendors, who self-identified as antiquar- ians and claimed to be of royal lineage, began selling objects that In the final analysis, the political function of the patrimonial they fraudulently presented as originating from the palace. This processes initiated during the reign of King Njoya seems to con- latter phenomenon reached such a scale that King Mbuombuo tinue, to the extent that local antagonism appears to be a model Njoya issued a communique against “the spread of cybercrime, a of patrimonial representation and practices. Such a model has, means through which they [fraudsters] carry out transactions of in a way, been raised to a regional level, becoming part of per- art objects which they sell to their victims, making them believe sonal relations between micro-states of the Grassfields. Must that the objects are from the Palace or Royal Museum.”16 This patrimony always be threatened in the political arena in order to development is proof, if need be, of the royal function of authen- exist? Must it constantly be the subject of competition between tification progressively established by King Njimoluh. Paradoxi- representations in order to appear in public? It seems impossi- cally, it is difficult to imagine the creation of private or lineage ble to answer these questions in the Bamun Kingdom outside a museums without links to the palace.17 diachronic and synchronic analysis, one built around notions of The current king of the Bamun is also facing new regional heritage and patrimony by considering the dissemination of the competition from museum projects of varying quality initiated images and political imaginings of patrimony. in other parts of the Grassfields. Although such regional competition is probably less stiff than in the twentieth century, there Alexandra Galitzine-Loumpet is an anthropologist trained at the University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne. Senior lecturer at the University is still need to preserve Bamun prominence. In fact, patrimo- of Yaounde I (Cameroon) for many years, she currently works in Paris nialization processes for a large public in Cameroon were first and is an associate member of CESSMA research unit. She has conducted initiated in the Bamun kingdom (Galitzine-Loumpet 2006b, research in the Bamoun kingdom for over twenty years. Loumpet.galit- Malaquais 2002). [email protected]

80 | african arts SUMMER 2016 VOL. 49, NO. 2 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021 Notes References cited ______. 2013. “Roots and Routes of African Photo- graphic Practices: From Modern to Vernacular Pho- 1 I use the word “Bamun’’ currently employed by Bosserdet, J. 1985. Au palais des Sultans à Foumban. tography in West and Central Africa (1850–1980).” In A those concerned and the Cameroonian administration. Paris: UNESCO. Companion to Modern African Art, ed. Gitti Salami and ‘’Bamum” is closer to the original word “Pamom,” but it Dell, S. 2013. “Yeyap’s Resources: Representation and the Monica Blackmun Visonà, pp. 74–95. Chichester, West is also a construction. Arts of the Bamun in Cameroon and France, 1902–1935.” Sussex: Wiley Blackwell. 2 Germain Loumpet and I restructured the Palace In World Art and the Legacies of Colonial Violence, ed. Museum between March 1995 and 1996. Gebauer, P. 1971. “Art of Cameroon.” African Arts 4 Daniel J. Rycroft, pp. 31–58. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. 3 The Mbem people were conquered by the (2):24–35, 80. founder of the Bamun kingdom, Nshare, in the seven- Dugast, I., and M.D.W. Jeffreys. 1952. L’écriture des Lecoq, R. 1951. “African Museums in French Camer- teenth century. The village of Mbem then became the Bamum, sa naissance, son évolution, sa valeur phoné- o on .” Museum 4 (2):137–39. capital of the new kingdom and the Mbem language tique, son utilisation. Douala: Éditions IFAN. became the official Bamun language. Borrowing the Lietmbouo, S., J. Ndouop, and Njingoumbe Tetmoun. Gabus, J. 1967. “Historical Monuments in Dahomey and language of the vanquished by the victor is a sufficiently 1992. Le peuple Bamum: des histoires à l’histoire. Cameroon: Restoration Plans.” Museum 20 (2):131–40. rare occurrence to be stressed. Yaoundé : Sopecam. 4 The royal cemetery is called Gebt’nja. Galitzine-Loumpet, A. 2002. “Ibrahim Njoya, Master of Loumpet, G. forthcoming 2016. “Les musées de 5 It is, however, difficult to establish the exact Bamun Drawings.” In An Anthology of African Art: The Foumban.” In Patrimonialisations en situation colonial. royal role in the arrangement of this picture, taken with Twentieth Century, ed. N’Gone Fall and J.L. Pivin, pp. Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes. the help of Anna Wurhman. 102–105. New York: DAP. Malaquais, D. 2002. Architecture, pouvoir et dissidence 6 An inventory of photographs was conducted in ______. 2006a. “De l’Iconographie à l’écriture, pre- au Cameroun. Paris: Karthala. 2003 under the Getty Collaborative program, “Moder- mière analyse du système graphique Bamoun.” Annales nity in Bamun Art.” de la Faculté des Arts, Lettres & Sciences Humaines, Morin, F. 2014. “L’art africain au MEG: la collection 7 Mediathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoine: Université de Yaoundé n.s. 2006, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 123–37. des précurseurs.” In Regards sur les collections: Musée http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/ Yaoundé: Université de Yaoundé. d’ethnographie de Genève, pp. 173–87. Geneva: Musée 8 Prestat, as a pretext to reduce King Njoya’s politi- d’ethnographie de Genève. cal power, accused the king of trying to poison him. ______. 2006b. Njoya et le royaume bamoun, les 9 The drawings preserved in the Ethnographic archives de la société des missions évangéliques de Paris Nelson, S. 2007. “Collection and Context in a Cameroo- Museum of Geneva show that settings could be drawn 1917–1937. Paris: Karthala. nian Village.” Museum International 59 (3):22–30. in advance. http://www.ville-ge.ch/meg/musinfo00.php ______. 2008. “Objets en exil: les temporalités Njiasse Njoya, A., et al. 1984. De Njoya à Njimoluh: cent ?debut=20&what=dessin&bool=AND&dpt=ETHAF. A parallèles du trône du roi Njoya (Ouest Cameroun).” ans d’histoire bamoun. Fumban: Éditions du Palais. specific study on the relationship between drawings and Colloque international Les temporalités de l’Exil, Njoya, A., and P.P. Pepuere. 2006. “Histoire de l’église photographs is ongoing. Poexil-Université de Montréal 15-17 février 2007; http:// Bamoun depuis 1905 par les missionnaires de Balle.” In 10 Some of them were prestigious within colonial www.poexil.umontreal.ca/events/colloquetemp/actes/ Njoya et le royaume bamoun, les archives de la société circles, such as General Leclerc, Pierre Messmer, the Brit- Alexandra.pdf. ish Commissioner in English-speaking Cameroon, etc. des missions évangéliques de Paris 1917–1937, ed. A. 11 Part of the activity of the artist Daïrou ______. 2011a. “‘Islam bâtard’ ou religion refuge? La Galitzine-Loupet, pp. 139–52. Paris: Karthala. Originally (1955–2007) was the painting of portraits based on mission protestante française face à l’Islam bamoun published 1940. (Ouest Cameroun).” In L’Islam des marges: mission photographs. Njoya, I. 1952. Histoire et coutumes des Bamum. Trans. chrétienne et espaces périphériques du monde musulman, 12 Sultan Seidou Njimoluh, “Bamun History Pasteur Martin. Douala: Memoires de l’IFAN. (based on the original by late Sultan Njoya)” (Galitzine- XVIe-XXe siècles, ed. B. Heyberger and R. Madinier, pp. Loumpet 2006b:55–76). The only one to be published 267–85. Paris: Karthala. Njimoluh, S. 2006. “Rectification sur la remise solen- nelle du crane de Nsangou, sultan du Bamoun mis was the translation by Pastor Martin (Njoya 1952) on ______. 2011b. “Représenter son espace-monde: La à mort à Banso.” In Njoya et le royaume bamoun, les the advice of Idelette Dugast. Some omissions suggest cartographie du roi Njoya (Royaume Bamoun, Ouest archives de la société des missions évangéliques de Paris that it could have been truncated and that the work of Cameroun).” In Cartographier l’Afrique, Construction, 1917–1937, ed. A Galitzine-Loumpet, p. 196. Paris: Kar- rewriting was important. transmission et circulation des savoirs géographiques du thala. Originally published 1944. 13 This periodization remains particularly prob- Moyen-Age au XIXe siècle, ed. V. Hirribarren and R. Sei- lematic in light of the more recent founding narratives gnobos. Cartes & Géomatique 210 (Dec.):185–98. Oberhofer, M. 2012. “The Appropriation of the Other: of neighboring kingdoms. The kingdom was probably Following a Royal Throne from Bamum to Berlin.” Geary, C.M. 1983. Things of the Palace. Wiesbaden: founded in the seventeenth century. DiARTgonales 1:33–38. 14 Speech by H.M. Sultan Njimoluh Seidou Franz Steiner Verlag. Savary, C. 1979. Situation et histoire des Bamum: (Loumpet-Galitzine 2006b:203–208). ______. 1988. Images from Bamum: German Colonial notes à propos de la collection des dessins bamum du 15 El Hadj Mbuombuo Njoya, King of Bamun, Photography at the Court of King Njoya, 1902–1915. Musée d’ethnographie de Genève. Geneva: Musée personal communications,1993–1995. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, d’ethnographie de la Ville de Genève. 16 Release by King Mbuombuo Njoya, February 12, National Museum of African Art. 2013. Tardits, C. 1980. Le royaume bamoum. Paris: A. Colin. 17 Prince Njiasse Njoya intitiated a small dance ______. 1994. The Voyage of King Njoya’s Gift: A museum in the 2000s, and the private collection of Beaded Sculpture from the Bamum Kingdom, Cameroon, ______. 2004. L’histoire singulière de l’art bamoum. the King’s uncle, Mambafon Mongbe Emmanuel, was in the National Museum of African Art. Washington, Paris: Afredit-Maisonneuve & Larose. DC: Smithsonian Institution. temporarily established in the town center. Objects were Wasaki, H. 1992. “The Political Structure of the Bamoun presented together with portraits of the kings and their ______. 2011. Bamum. Milan: 5 Continents. Kingdom in Cameroon and the Urban-Rural Relation- followers drawn by Daïrou. ship.” Africa 4:303–71.

VOL. 49, NO. 2 SUMMER 2016 african arts | 81 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/AFAR_a_00287 by guest on 29 September 2021

galitzine.indd 81 19/02/2016 4:21 PM