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Africa 80 (3), 2010 DOI: 10.3366/E0001972010001531 URBANITES AND URBAN VILLAGERS: COMPARING ‘HOME’ AMONG ELITE AND NON-ELITE BAMILÉKÉ WOMEN’S HOMETOWN ASSOCIATIONS Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg and Tiokou Ndonko In 1998, when Geschiere and Gugler addressed the politics of primary patriotism and belonging, multi-partyism and structural adjustment were still rather recent phenomena in Cameroon. Rural hometowns were then described as a resource, giving legitimacy to urban male elites in their endeavour to share the national pie. Identification with the hometown was (and is) institutionalized in hometown associations. De-emphasized in 1998 was the liability that hometown identification could pose to rural–urban migrants in a climate of ‘increasing obsession with autochthony’ (Geschiere and Gugler 1998: 309). That hometowns were highlighted only as resources in subsequent work on the political implications of hometown associations may be due to the neglect of both non-elite and women’s hometown associations. To understand how local conceptions of the units of belonging emerge from lived experience, we need to attend to variation by status and by gender. This approach fits well with the ethnographic field in Cameroon, since many hometown associations are sex-segregated, as well as differentiated by elite and non-elite designations. This article reveals several ways in which we can reconceptualize hometown associations and belonging. First, it differentiates among actors and associations by gender and status. Second, it addresses the great variety and situationally specific ways Bamiléké women use and interpret the units of belonging (or what constitutes ‘home’). Third, it addresses the autochthony debate from the perspective of allogènes (ethnic strangers), in contrast to a more common focus on autochtones PAMELA FELDMAN-SAVELSBERG is Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The author of Plundered Kitchens, Empty Wombs: threatened reproduction and identity in the Cameroon Grassfields (University of Michigan Press, 1999), and editor of Collective Memory and Reproduction in Africa (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), her work focuses on the politics of reproduction, gender, social networks and rumour. Her current research investigates how childbearing intersects with the politics of belonging among transnational Bamiléké. FLAVIEN TIOKOU NDONKO holds a PhD in Anthropology from the Universität Hamburg. He taught Anthropology at the University of Yaoundé I (1993–2000) before switching to the Ministry of Health, where he now works for the German–Cameroon Health and AIDS Programme. Apart from his interest in medical anthropology and project implementation, he has carried out anthropological research in Europe, focusing mostly on Germans and their dogs. He has published a book on human excrement and is co-author of a book on the public health consequences of rumour. He has also published more than ten articles in different books or international journals, including Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry; Africa Focus; African Anthropology; Collegium Anthropologicum; Medical Anthropology Quarterly; and Africa.
Object Description
Collection Title | Scholarly Publications by Carleton Faculty and Staff |
Journal Title | Africa |
Article Title | Urbanites and Urban Villagers: Comparing 'home' among elite and non-elite Bamileke women's hometown associations. |
Article Author |
Feldman-Savelsberg, Pamela Ndonko, Tiokou |
Carleton Author | Feldman-Savelsberg, Pamela |
Department | African/African American Studies |
Field | African; Anthropology |
Year | 2011 |
Volume | 80(3) |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
File Name | FeldmanSavelsberg_52719446.pdf |
Rights Management | This document is authorized for self-archiving and distribution online by the author(s) and is free for use by researchers. |
RoMEO Color | RoMEO_Color_Green |
Preprint Archiving | Yes |
Postprint Archiving | Yes |
Publisher PDF Archiving | Yes |
Paid OA Option | No_Value |
Fully Open Access | Yes |
Contributing Organization | Carleton College |
Type | Text |
Format | application/pdf |
Language | English |
Description
Article Title | Page 1 |
FullText | Africa 80 (3), 2010 DOI: 10.3366/E0001972010001531 URBANITES AND URBAN VILLAGERS: COMPARING ‘HOME’ AMONG ELITE AND NON-ELITE BAMILÉKÉ WOMEN’S HOMETOWN ASSOCIATIONS Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg and Tiokou Ndonko In 1998, when Geschiere and Gugler addressed the politics of primary patriotism and belonging, multi-partyism and structural adjustment were still rather recent phenomena in Cameroon. Rural hometowns were then described as a resource, giving legitimacy to urban male elites in their endeavour to share the national pie. Identification with the hometown was (and is) institutionalized in hometown associations. De-emphasized in 1998 was the liability that hometown identification could pose to rural–urban migrants in a climate of ‘increasing obsession with autochthony’ (Geschiere and Gugler 1998: 309). That hometowns were highlighted only as resources in subsequent work on the political implications of hometown associations may be due to the neglect of both non-elite and women’s hometown associations. To understand how local conceptions of the units of belonging emerge from lived experience, we need to attend to variation by status and by gender. This approach fits well with the ethnographic field in Cameroon, since many hometown associations are sex-segregated, as well as differentiated by elite and non-elite designations. This article reveals several ways in which we can reconceptualize hometown associations and belonging. First, it differentiates among actors and associations by gender and status. Second, it addresses the great variety and situationally specific ways Bamiléké women use and interpret the units of belonging (or what constitutes ‘home’). Third, it addresses the autochthony debate from the perspective of allogènes (ethnic strangers), in contrast to a more common focus on autochtones PAMELA FELDMAN-SAVELSBERG is Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The author of Plundered Kitchens, Empty Wombs: threatened reproduction and identity in the Cameroon Grassfields (University of Michigan Press, 1999), and editor of Collective Memory and Reproduction in Africa (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), her work focuses on the politics of reproduction, gender, social networks and rumour. Her current research investigates how childbearing intersects with the politics of belonging among transnational Bamiléké. FLAVIEN TIOKOU NDONKO holds a PhD in Anthropology from the Universität Hamburg. He taught Anthropology at the University of Yaoundé I (1993–2000) before switching to the Ministry of Health, where he now works for the German–Cameroon Health and AIDS Programme. Apart from his interest in medical anthropology and project implementation, he has carried out anthropological research in Europe, focusing mostly on Germans and their dogs. He has published a book on human excrement and is co-author of a book on the public health consequences of rumour. He has also published more than ten articles in different books or international journals, including Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry; Africa Focus; African Anthropology; Collegium Anthropologicum; Medical Anthropology Quarterly; and Africa. |