5 - Feminist Activism, Economic Carte Blanche, Political Control, Symbol and Symbolism: A Historical Interpretation of the Kelu Women Revolution in Bu-Cameroon, 1957-59
Corresponding Author(s) : Henry Kam Kah
Afrika Zamani,
No. 17 (2009): Afrika Zamani: An Annual Journal of African History: Special Issue on Re-reading the History and Historiography of Domination and Resistance in Africa
Abstract
The centrality of women in the opposition of male domination and subjugation in colonial Africa was a fall out of decolonisation which quickened after World War II. Within this epoch, the Laimbwe women of Bu in North West Cameroon launched a virulent attack on men and their institutions. The intention was to achieve economic freedom and political control. An effective mechanism of operation, using traditional bodily symbols, was put in place and the result was a neutralisation of the overbearing and imposing influence of men and their institutions respectively.
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- Amaazee, Victor Bong, 2004, ‘Comments on Henry Kah, ‘Multiparty Politics in Africa: The West Cameroon Experience, 1961-1966a’’’.
- Barnes, Teresa A., 1992, ‘The Fight for Control of African Women’s Mobility in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1900-1939’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Vol. 17, No. 3: 586-608.
- Bordo, Susan, 1993, Unbearable Weight, Feminism, Western Culture and the Body, Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Connerton, Paul, 1989, How Societies Remember, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Crawford, R., 1984, ‘A Cultural Account of «Health»: Control, Release and the Social Body’, Issues in the Political Economy of Health Care, ed., Mckinlay, New York: Tavistock.
- Davis, Kathy, 1995, Reshaping the Female Body. The Dilemma of Cosmetic Surgery, New York: Routledge.
- Davis, Kathy, 1997, ‘Beyond Modernist and Postmodernist Readings of the Body’, Embodied Practices: Feminist Perspectives on the Body, ed., K. Davis, London: Sage Publications.
- Davis, Kathy, ed., 1997, Embodied Practices: Feminist Perspectives on the Body, London: Sage Publications.
- De Beauvoir, Simone, 1952, The Second Sex, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Diduk, Susan, 2004, ‘The Civility of Incivility: Grassroots Political Activism, Female Farmers and the Cameroon State’, African Studies Review, Vol. 47, No. 2: 27-54.
- Etienne, M., 1997, ‘Women and Men, Cloth and Colonisation: The Transformation of Production-Distribution Relations among the Baule (Ivory Coast)’, Government and Politics in Africa, Third Edition Cited in W. Tordoff, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
- Frank, Arthur W., 1990, ‘Bringing Bodies Back In: A Decade Review’, Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 7: 131-162.
- Garlick, P.C., 1971, African Traders and Economic Development in Ghana, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Geary, Christraud, 1983, Things of the Palace: A Catalogue of the Bamum Palace Museum in Foumban (Cameroon), Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH.
- Inkeles, Alex and David H. Smith, 1974, Becoming Modern: Individual Change in Six Developing Countries, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
- Jacobs, S., 1984, ‘Women and Land Resettlement in Zimbabwe’, Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 27-28, February.
- Kah, Henry Kam, 2004, ‘Women as Makers of History: A Study of the Kelu Women Movement in Bu-Wum Cameroon, 1957-59’, Castalia: Ibadan Journal of Multicultural and Multidisciplinary Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1:12-40.
- Kah, Henry Kam, Forthcoming, ‘Masculinity and Female Resistance in the Rice Economy in the Muteh/ Menchum Valley Bu, North West Cameroon 1953-2005’.
- Konde Emmanuel, Janice Sumler, Edmond and Linda Tomlinson, eds., 1997, The United States, Africa and the World: A History Reader, Acton, MA: Tapestry Press.
- Laws of the Southern Cameroons 1954, 1955 and 1956 Containing the Ordinances and Subsidiary Legislation of the Southern Cameroons.
- MacCormack, Carol P., 1977, ‘Women and Symbolic Systems: Biological Events and Cultural Control’, Women and National Development: The Complexities of Change, Wellesley Editorial Committee, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
- March, Candida, Ines Smyth and Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay, 1999, A Guide to Gender Analysis Frameworks, Great Britain: Oxfam Publications.
- Mueller, Martha, 1977, ‘Women and Men Power and Powerlessness in Lesotho’, Women and National Development: The Complexities of Change, Wellesley Editorial Committee Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
- Nkwi, Walter Gam, 2003, ‘The Anlu Factor in the 1959 Elections in British Southern Cameroons: The case of Kom Fondom, 1958-1961’, Epasa Moto: A Bilingual Journal of Arts, Letters and the Humanities, Vol. 1, No. 6: 154-175.
- Onwuejeogwu, M. Angulu, 1992, The Social Anthropology of Africa: An Introduction, Ibadan: Heinemann.
- Roberts, Allen F., 1997, ‘Symbolism: Overview’, Encyclopaedia of Africa South of the Sahara, ed., J. Middleton, Vol. 4, London: Macmillan.
- Smith, Fred T., 1997, ‘Body Adornment and Clothing’, Encyclopaedia of Africa South of the Sahara, ed., J. Middleton, Vol. 1, London: Macmillan.
- Tordoff, William, 1997, Government and Politics in Africa Third Edition, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
- Van Allen, Judith, 1997, “Aba Riots or Igbo Women’s War?”, Ideology, Stratification and the Invisibility of Women’, The United States Africa and the World: A History Reader, ed., Emmanuel Konde, Janice Sumler – Edmond and Linda Tomlinson Acton, MA: Tapestry Press.
References
Amaazee, Victor Bong, 2004, ‘Comments on Henry Kah, ‘Multiparty Politics in Africa: The West Cameroon Experience, 1961-1966a’’’.
Barnes, Teresa A., 1992, ‘The Fight for Control of African Women’s Mobility in Colonial Zimbabwe, 1900-1939’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Vol. 17, No. 3: 586-608.
Bordo, Susan, 1993, Unbearable Weight, Feminism, Western Culture and the Body, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Connerton, Paul, 1989, How Societies Remember, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Crawford, R., 1984, ‘A Cultural Account of «Health»: Control, Release and the Social Body’, Issues in the Political Economy of Health Care, ed., Mckinlay, New York: Tavistock.
Davis, Kathy, 1995, Reshaping the Female Body. The Dilemma of Cosmetic Surgery, New York: Routledge.
Davis, Kathy, 1997, ‘Beyond Modernist and Postmodernist Readings of the Body’, Embodied Practices: Feminist Perspectives on the Body, ed., K. Davis, London: Sage Publications.
Davis, Kathy, ed., 1997, Embodied Practices: Feminist Perspectives on the Body, London: Sage Publications.
De Beauvoir, Simone, 1952, The Second Sex, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Diduk, Susan, 2004, ‘The Civility of Incivility: Grassroots Political Activism, Female Farmers and the Cameroon State’, African Studies Review, Vol. 47, No. 2: 27-54.
Etienne, M., 1997, ‘Women and Men, Cloth and Colonisation: The Transformation of Production-Distribution Relations among the Baule (Ivory Coast)’, Government and Politics in Africa, Third Edition Cited in W. Tordoff, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Frank, Arthur W., 1990, ‘Bringing Bodies Back In: A Decade Review’, Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 7: 131-162.
Garlick, P.C., 1971, African Traders and Economic Development in Ghana, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Geary, Christraud, 1983, Things of the Palace: A Catalogue of the Bamum Palace Museum in Foumban (Cameroon), Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH.
Inkeles, Alex and David H. Smith, 1974, Becoming Modern: Individual Change in Six Developing Countries, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Jacobs, S., 1984, ‘Women and Land Resettlement in Zimbabwe’, Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 27-28, February.
Kah, Henry Kam, 2004, ‘Women as Makers of History: A Study of the Kelu Women Movement in Bu-Wum Cameroon, 1957-59’, Castalia: Ibadan Journal of Multicultural and Multidisciplinary Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1:12-40.
Kah, Henry Kam, Forthcoming, ‘Masculinity and Female Resistance in the Rice Economy in the Muteh/ Menchum Valley Bu, North West Cameroon 1953-2005’.
Konde Emmanuel, Janice Sumler, Edmond and Linda Tomlinson, eds., 1997, The United States, Africa and the World: A History Reader, Acton, MA: Tapestry Press.
Laws of the Southern Cameroons 1954, 1955 and 1956 Containing the Ordinances and Subsidiary Legislation of the Southern Cameroons.
MacCormack, Carol P., 1977, ‘Women and Symbolic Systems: Biological Events and Cultural Control’, Women and National Development: The Complexities of Change, Wellesley Editorial Committee, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
March, Candida, Ines Smyth and Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay, 1999, A Guide to Gender Analysis Frameworks, Great Britain: Oxfam Publications.
Mueller, Martha, 1977, ‘Women and Men Power and Powerlessness in Lesotho’, Women and National Development: The Complexities of Change, Wellesley Editorial Committee Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Nkwi, Walter Gam, 2003, ‘The Anlu Factor in the 1959 Elections in British Southern Cameroons: The case of Kom Fondom, 1958-1961’, Epasa Moto: A Bilingual Journal of Arts, Letters and the Humanities, Vol. 1, No. 6: 154-175.
Onwuejeogwu, M. Angulu, 1992, The Social Anthropology of Africa: An Introduction, Ibadan: Heinemann.
Roberts, Allen F., 1997, ‘Symbolism: Overview’, Encyclopaedia of Africa South of the Sahara, ed., J. Middleton, Vol. 4, London: Macmillan.
Smith, Fred T., 1997, ‘Body Adornment and Clothing’, Encyclopaedia of Africa South of the Sahara, ed., J. Middleton, Vol. 1, London: Macmillan.
Tordoff, William, 1997, Government and Politics in Africa Third Edition, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Van Allen, Judith, 1997, “Aba Riots or Igbo Women’s War?”, Ideology, Stratification and the Invisibility of Women’, The United States Africa and the World: A History Reader, ed., Emmanuel Konde, Janice Sumler – Edmond and Linda Tomlinson Acton, MA: Tapestry Press.