Communication and Conversion in Northern Cameroon: The Dii People and Norwegian Missionaries, 1934-1960

CONTENTS......Page 6
Acknowledgements......Page 10
List of Maps......Page 12
List of Illustrations......Page 14
Maps......Page 16
Illustrations from the Dii-Mission Encounter......Page 18
I. Communicating Freedom or Colonial Evangelism?......Page 30
Anthropological History......Page 31
The Encounter between Dii and the Mission......Page 32
Regional Studies......Page 34
Colonial Evangelism?......Page 36
Communication, Discourse, Translatability and Worldview......Page 38
Understanding the Process of Communication......Page 39
The Octopus Concept of Discourse......Page 41
Translatability......Page 44
Mission as Worldview Encounter......Page 45
Norwegian Archival Material......Page 47
French Archival Material......Page 49
Fieldwork Experiences......Page 51
Fieldwork and Situatedness......Page 54
Delimitation of the Study......Page 56
II. Our Ancestors Used to Live on this Mountain......Page 59
The Dii......Page 60
The Arrival of Islam......Page 63
The Religious Content of the Jihad......Page 67
Islam and the Dii......Page 72
The European Colonial Race for Cameroon......Page 74
The French Colonial Administration and the Dii......Page 79
The French Colonial Administration and Christian Missionaries......Page 82
The Arrival of Christianity......Page 88
The "Crisis in Duru" – a Fight for Colonial Goodwill......Page 93
The Dii-Rey-Bouba Controversy; a Social Reorganisation of the Dii......Page 97
III. Like a Labyrinth is his Life – a Missionary Discourse on Conversion......Page 100
Conversion as a Process of Growth and Liberation......Page 101
Conversion as Liberation from Spiritual Oppression......Page 105
Conversion as Freedom from Social Oppression......Page 108
Conversion as Liberation from Ignorance......Page 110
Conversion as Liberation from Sickness......Page 113
Conversion as Liberation from Destructive Behaviour......Page 115
IV. And it is Really Thanks to You that We are Saved – a Dii Discourse on Conversion......Page 119
Methodological Considerations......Page 120
The First Encounter......Page 121
The Attraction of the Message and the Media......Page 124
Towards Social Change......Page 128
Liberation from Forced Labour......Page 131
The Missionaries Came with Tenderness......Page 133
The Creation of a Modern Myth......Page 137
Studying African Traditional Religion......Page 144
Dii Traditional Religious Rites......Page 150
Dii Cosmology: God, Ancestors and Myths of Origin......Page 158
Crisis and Change......Page 163
VI. Establishing a Church on the Dii-Plain......Page 167
Phase 1: Establishment, Progress, and Setback (1934–1939)......Page 168
Phase 2: Status Quo (1940–1947)......Page 173
Phase 3: Reconstruction (1948–1952)......Page 179
Phase 4: Consolidation and Growth (1953–1960)......Page 188
A New Dii Christian Identity......Page 194
Dii Traditions and Translatability......Page 196
New Elements in Dii Christianity......Page 201
Towards a Dii Christian Worldview......Page 206
Cognitive Worldview Assumptions......Page 209
Aff ective Worldview Assumptions......Page 210
Evaluative Worldview Assumptions......Page 212
Communication as Cultural Encounter......Page 214
Communication as Negotiation of Meaning......Page 216
Conversion – Colonisation of African Consciousness?......Page 219
Conversion – Change in Dii Plausibility Structure?......Page 223
The Dii Path towards Conversion......Page 227
Crisis......Page 228
Context......Page 229
Translatability......Page 230
Attitude......Page 231
Conservation – African Mental Maps of the Universe......Page 232
Concluding Remarks......Page 236
The First Pastors......Page 240
Students......Page 241
Appendix C: Norwegian Missionaries on the Dii-Plain (1934–1960)......Page 242
Appendix D: Statistics, Mission Work on the Dii-Plain (1934–1960)......Page 243
Bibliography......Page 246
Index......Page 254