A collection of essays on Cameroon from the 1950s to the present. Subjects include the problem of 'identity' in West Africa, aspects of German colonialism, and Nso' warfare and religion. B/w illus, notes, bib, 207pp, UK. BERGHAHN BOOKS.

Analyses the interplay of modern and traditional influences and constraints on African women’s access to political power. It identifies knowledge as central to the exercise of political power in Cameroon since pre-colonial times. It uses case studies of women’s organizations and protest movements to trace the processes by which women were incorporated intro national political parties. 260pp, USA. EDWIN MELLEN PRESS.

Analyzes a cinema that, after a series of state-controlled productions that aimed to create a fictitious image and consolidate a long autocracy, has been inaugurating some major thematic and aesthetic innovations for the last twenty years. 341pp, GERMANY. BAYREUTH A S.

Ethnographic study which looks at the ways in which the village community of Domaayo, in Northern Cameroon copes with cultural contradictions and social tensions. Index, refs, gloss, 175pp, USA. WESTVIEW,

A funny and unconventional book describing the author's first year in Africa living amongst the Dowayo people of Cameroon. He knew how fieldwork should be conducted, but the theory did not take into account the elusive nature of Dowayo society, which refused to conform to the rules. Map, 190pp, UK. PENGUIN.

1983 0140095365 Paperback

Relatively recent Bantu-speaking migrants to central Cameroon, the Beti have had an eventful history. Based on extensive interviews and traditional Beti (Fang) poetry, in addition to German and French archival sources, this study recreates the social structure of the Beti and their self-perceptions in pre-colonial times, their disruptive encounters with first German (1880-1918) and then French (1918-1960) colonialism, until Cameroon’s independence. Index, bib, 160pp, UK. BERGHAHN BOOKS.

During the long dry season, Tupuri men and women in northern Cameroon gather in gurna camps outside their villages to learn the songs that will be performed at widely attended celebrations to honour the year's dead. The gurna provides a space for them to join together in solidarity to care for their cattle, fatten their bodies, and share local stories. But why does the gurna remain meaningful in the modern nation-state of Cameroon? This book explores the vitality of gurna ritual in the context of village life and urban neighbourhoods and shows how Tupuri songs borrow from political discourse on democracy in Cameroon and make light of human foibles, publicize scandals, promote the prestige of dancers, and provide an arena for powerful social commentary on the challenges of modern life. Illus, 272pp, USA. INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Recounts the life of a pastoral nomadic Fulani with leprosy. Highly acclaimed by Claude Levi Strauss who called the French edition 'one of the masterworks of ethnographic literature'. Gloss, notes, b/w photos, map, xxi, 298pp, UK. BERGHAHN BOOKS, 1571818448

Explores the adaptation of witchcraft traditions to contemporary needs. Geschiere shows how perceptions defined by occult belief are to be found active at many levels of Cameroon society, for instance in politics and business, where sorcery is seen as both a tool and a threat. Notes, bib, index, 311pp, USA. UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA PRESS.

A case study that clearly shows rural women in the Northwest Province of Cameroon involved in mass protests fighting for more democracy, and at the same time struggling to improve their participation in all fields of social action, from family level to the economic sphere and the political arena of local government. Bib, map, diags, 312pp, GERMANY. LIT VERLAG.

A detailed ethnographic study focusing on the chiefdom of Nso' in the Bamenda grassfields of the Cameroons. A very significant study of anthropology and gender, first published in 1952. Index, apps, notes, maps, xxiv, 220pp, UK. ROUTLEDGE.