Book contents
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword Beyond the Printed Word
- Introduction Finding the African Voice
- Part One Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
- 1 Introduction:
- 2 Oral Traditions about Individuals Enslaved in Asante
- 3 “The Little Things that Would Please Your Heart...”
- 4 Tales of Cowries, Money, and Slaves
- 5 Oral Accounts of Slave-Master Relations from Cameroon Noncentralized and Centralized Polities (1750–1950)
- 6 “He Who Is without Family Will Be the Subject of Many Exactions”
- 7 Common Themes, Individual Voices
- 8 Slavery in Kano Emirate of Sokoto Caliphate as Recounted
- Part Two The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
- Part Three Documenting Our Own Histories and Cultural Practices
- Part Four Slavery Observed: European Travelers’ Accounts
- Part Five Administrative Records
- Part Six Legal Records
- Part Seven Recorded Encounters with the Enslaved: Christian Workers in Africa
- Part Eight Documents from Muslim Africa
- Part Nine Living with the Past
- Index
5 - Oral Accounts of Slave-Master Relations from Cameroon Noncentralized and Centralized Polities (1750–1950)
from Part One - Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
Book contents
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword Beyond the Printed Word
- Introduction Finding the African Voice
- Part One Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
- 1 Introduction:
- 2 Oral Traditions about Individuals Enslaved in Asante
- 3 “The Little Things that Would Please Your Heart...”
- 4 Tales of Cowries, Money, and Slaves
- 5 Oral Accounts of Slave-Master Relations from Cameroon Noncentralized and Centralized Polities (1750–1950)
- 6 “He Who Is without Family Will Be the Subject of Many Exactions”
- 7 Common Themes, Individual Voices
- 8 Slavery in Kano Emirate of Sokoto Caliphate as Recounted
- Part Two The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
- Part Three Documenting Our Own Histories and Cultural Practices
- Part Four Slavery Observed: European Travelers’ Accounts
- Part Five Administrative Records
- Part Six Legal Records
- Part Seven Recorded Encounters with the Enslaved: Christian Workers in Africa
- Part Eight Documents from Muslim Africa
- Part Nine Living with the Past
- Index
Summary
The Cameroon coast occupies a big portion of the Bight of Biafra. Between the fifteenth and the mid-nineteenth centuries, this was one of the major regions of Atlantic slave exports. This chapter shows that oral accounts can provide useful details on slave-master relationships and life in slavery in both the non-centralized and centralized polities. The first part of the chapter is a narrative, which is recorded from Ebeagwa village, in Upper Banyang, in 1981 and again in 1997. It is the story of the conflict between a slave master known as Ashunken and his slaves. The second part focuses on Essoh-Attah, which is one of the centralized polities situated in the Cameroon Grassfields, an area in the hinterland of the country. Banyang slaves could own property and had rights that they fiercely defended against the attacks of unscrupulous masters.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade , pp. 55 - 64Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013