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Power and the quest for recognition: neo-traditional titles among the new elite in Nso', Cameroon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Cyprian Fisiy  and
Mitzi Goheen
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Extract

This article investigates the nature and structure of linkages between the urban elite and local institutions in their home villages in the Nso' area of north-west Cameroon. It argues that indigenous institutions provide a frame of reference for the negotiation of identity and the provision of security in a context where state institutions seem to have lost their raison d'être. The notion of a home village has become a defining factor in the urban–rural nexus which allows the elite to acquire resources from external sources which they in turn invest in the production of social and symbolic capital. The materialisation of this capital is manifested in the acquisition of neo-traditional titles. Under conditions of dire financial and material hardship some local traditional authorities have started to ‘commodity’ what was previously earned through merit and service to the group.

Résumé

Cet article étudie la nature et la structure des liens entre l'élite urbaine et les institutions locales dans les villages natals de la région de Nso', au nord-ouest du Cameroun. II constate que les institutions indigènes constituent un cadre de référence en matière de renforcement du sentiment d'identité et de sécurité lorsque les institutions étatiques semblent avoir perdu leur raison d'être. La notion de village natal est devenue un facteur déterminant du lien ville-campagne qui permet à l'élite d'acquérir des ressources extérieures qu'elle investit ensuite dans la production du capital social et symbolique. La matérialisatiion de ce capital se manifeste par l'acquisition de titres néotraditionnels. Dans les situations financièrs et matérielles difficiles, certaines autorités traditionnelles locales ont commencé à “marchandiser” ce qui se gagnait autrefois par le mérite et les services rendus à un groupe.

Type
Pursuing power back on the periphery
Information
Africa , Volume 68 , Issue 3: The Politics of Primary Patriotism , July 1998 , pp. 383 - 402
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1998

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