5 - The Emergence of Public Spheres in Colonial Cameroon: Palm Wine Drinking Joints in Bamenda Township
Africa Development,
Vol. 37 No. 1 (2012): Africa Development: Special Issue onThe African Public Sphere:Concepts, Histories, Voices and Processes
Abstract
Habermas’ concept of public sphere encompasses a variety of meanings, including social sites where meanings are articulated, distributed and negotiated, as well as the collective body constituted by – i.e. ‘the public’ in this process. Thus, any area in social life where people congregate and freely discuss and identify societal problems and, through that discussion influence public and political action, constitutes the public sphere. This paper argues that Habermas’ conception is relevant to Africa and sets out to examine the emergence, functioning, and consequences of palm wine drinking joints in 20th century colonial Bamenda Township as public spheres par excellence à la Habermas.
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- "Akyeampong, Emmanuel, 1988, Drink, Power, and Cultural Change: A Social History of Alcohol in Ghana, c.1800 to Recent Times, Portsmouth: Oxford.
- Awasom, N.F., 2003a, ‘Hausa Traders, Residential Segregation and the Quest for Security in 20th Century Colonial Bamenda Township (Cameroon)’, in Laurent Fourchard & Issac Albert eds, Security, Crime and Segregation in West African Cities Since the 19th Century, Ifra:Karthala.
- Awasom, N.F., 2003, ‘The Vicissitudes of twentieth-century Mankon Kings in Cameroon’s Changing Social Order’, in Wim van Binsbergen, ed The Dynamics of Power and the Rule of Law, Leiden: African Studies Centre.
- Awasom, N.F., 2006, ‘The British Invention of Tradition and the Fai Ndzenzef Affair’, Occasional Paper, University of The Gambia.
- Benhabib, Seyla, 1992, Models of Public Space, Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.
- Bryceson, Deborah Fay, 2002, ed., Alcohol in Africa: Mixing Business, Pleasure, and Politics. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.
- Benjelid, Abed, 2006,’Le stade de football: un formidable lieu de sociabilité et integration des jeunes de la périphérie pauvre de l’Oran’ (Algerie).
- Cantome, Cleo, 2006, ‘The contemporary mosque phenomenon as lieux de sociabilité: gender, identity and space’, Fancello, Sandra, ‘Du village au temple: les assemblée pentacôtiste comme espace de sociabilité en milieu urbain africain’.
- Fomin, E.S.D., 2004, ‘Understanding Banyang Women in Cameroon Urban Centres: Introspective and Perspectives’, Occasional Paper of the Department of History, University of Yaounde 1.
- Fourchard, Laurent, 2006, Sheben, sociabilité et pouvoir en Afrique du Sud au XXe siècle. Collins, John, ‘A century of changing locations of Ghanaian commercial Popular Entertainment Venues’.
- Freundlieb, Dieter; Hudson, Wayne and Rundell, John, eds, 2004, Critical Theory after Habermas: Encounters and Departures, Leiden, Boston: Brill.
- Habermas, Jürgen, 1989, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Massachusetts: The MIT Press (trans.).
- Haine, W. Scott, 1996, The World of the Paris Cafe: Sociability among the French Working Class, 1789-1914, Baltimore, Md., and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Hauser, Gerald, 1999, Vernacular Voices: The Rhetoric of Publics and Public Spheres, Columbia: Columbia University of South Carolina Press.
- Hirsch, Bertrand and Fauvelle, Francois-Xavier, 2004, ‘Cités oubliées. Réflection sur l’histoire urbaines de L’Ethiopie médiévale (xie-xvie siècle)’ Journal des africanistes, tome 74: 299-331.
- Hohendahl, Peter Uwe, 2001, ‘Critical Theory, Public Spheres and Culture. Jurgen Habermas and His Critics’, Public Sphere."
- Holder, Gilles, and Peatrik, 2004, ‘Cité, centre capitale: pour une anthropologie du statut politique de la ville’, Journal des africanistes, tome 74: 9-35.
- Madoeuf, Anna, 2005, ‘Feasts panoramas in town-spaces and times of the moulids of Cairo’ in Abdou Simone & Abdelghani Abouhani, eds., Urban Africa: Changing Contours of Survival in the City, Dakar: CODESRIA.
- Nyamnjoh, F. B. and Fokwang Jude, 2005, ‘Entertaining Repression: Music and Politics in Postcolonial Cameroon’, African Affairs, 104/415: 251-274.
- Nyerere, J. K., 1967, Socialism and Rural Development, Dar es Salaam: Government Printer.
- Warner, Michael, 1992, The Mass Public and the Mass Subject, Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.
- Warner, Michael, 2002, Publics and Counterpublics, New York: Zone Books.
- Willis, Justin, Potent Brews, 2002, A Social History of Alcohol in East Africa, 1850-1999 Nairobi: British Institute in Eastern Africa/Athens: Ohio University
- Press /Oxford: James Currey."
References
"Akyeampong, Emmanuel, 1988, Drink, Power, and Cultural Change: A Social History of Alcohol in Ghana, c.1800 to Recent Times, Portsmouth: Oxford.
Awasom, N.F., 2003a, ‘Hausa Traders, Residential Segregation and the Quest for Security in 20th Century Colonial Bamenda Township (Cameroon)’, in Laurent Fourchard & Issac Albert eds, Security, Crime and Segregation in West African Cities Since the 19th Century, Ifra:Karthala.
Awasom, N.F., 2003, ‘The Vicissitudes of twentieth-century Mankon Kings in Cameroon’s Changing Social Order’, in Wim van Binsbergen, ed The Dynamics of Power and the Rule of Law, Leiden: African Studies Centre.
Awasom, N.F., 2006, ‘The British Invention of Tradition and the Fai Ndzenzef Affair’, Occasional Paper, University of The Gambia.
Benhabib, Seyla, 1992, Models of Public Space, Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.
Bryceson, Deborah Fay, 2002, ed., Alcohol in Africa: Mixing Business, Pleasure, and Politics. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.
Benjelid, Abed, 2006,’Le stade de football: un formidable lieu de sociabilité et integration des jeunes de la périphérie pauvre de l’Oran’ (Algerie).
Cantome, Cleo, 2006, ‘The contemporary mosque phenomenon as lieux de sociabilité: gender, identity and space’, Fancello, Sandra, ‘Du village au temple: les assemblée pentacôtiste comme espace de sociabilité en milieu urbain africain’.
Fomin, E.S.D., 2004, ‘Understanding Banyang Women in Cameroon Urban Centres: Introspective and Perspectives’, Occasional Paper of the Department of History, University of Yaounde 1.
Fourchard, Laurent, 2006, Sheben, sociabilité et pouvoir en Afrique du Sud au XXe siècle. Collins, John, ‘A century of changing locations of Ghanaian commercial Popular Entertainment Venues’.
Freundlieb, Dieter; Hudson, Wayne and Rundell, John, eds, 2004, Critical Theory after Habermas: Encounters and Departures, Leiden, Boston: Brill.
Habermas, Jürgen, 1989, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Massachusetts: The MIT Press (trans.).
Haine, W. Scott, 1996, The World of the Paris Cafe: Sociability among the French Working Class, 1789-1914, Baltimore, Md., and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hauser, Gerald, 1999, Vernacular Voices: The Rhetoric of Publics and Public Spheres, Columbia: Columbia University of South Carolina Press.
Hirsch, Bertrand and Fauvelle, Francois-Xavier, 2004, ‘Cités oubliées. Réflection sur l’histoire urbaines de L’Ethiopie médiévale (xie-xvie siècle)’ Journal des africanistes, tome 74: 299-331.
Hohendahl, Peter Uwe, 2001, ‘Critical Theory, Public Spheres and Culture. Jurgen Habermas and His Critics’, Public Sphere."
Holder, Gilles, and Peatrik, 2004, ‘Cité, centre capitale: pour une anthropologie du statut politique de la ville’, Journal des africanistes, tome 74: 9-35.
Madoeuf, Anna, 2005, ‘Feasts panoramas in town-spaces and times of the moulids of Cairo’ in Abdou Simone & Abdelghani Abouhani, eds., Urban Africa: Changing Contours of Survival in the City, Dakar: CODESRIA.
Nyamnjoh, F. B. and Fokwang Jude, 2005, ‘Entertaining Repression: Music and Politics in Postcolonial Cameroon’, African Affairs, 104/415: 251-274.
Nyerere, J. K., 1967, Socialism and Rural Development, Dar es Salaam: Government Printer.
Warner, Michael, 1992, The Mass Public and the Mass Subject, Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.
Warner, Michael, 2002, Publics and Counterpublics, New York: Zone Books.
Willis, Justin, Potent Brews, 2002, A Social History of Alcohol in East Africa, 1850-1999 Nairobi: British Institute in Eastern Africa/Athens: Ohio University
Press /Oxford: James Currey."