In this book Walter Gam Nkwi documents the complexities and nuances embedded in African modernities and mobilities which have been overlooked in historical discourses in Africa and Cameroon. Using an ethnographic historical approach and drawing on the intricacies of what it has meant to be and belong in Kom- an ethnic community in the Northwest Region of Cameroon - since 1800, he explores the discourses and practices of kfaang as central to any understanding of mobility and modernity in Kom, Cameroon and Africa at large. The book unveils the emic understanding of modernity through the history and ethnography of kfaang and its technologies and illustrates how these terminologies were conceived and perceived by the Kom people in their social and physical mobilities. It documents and analyzes the historical processes involved in bringing about and making kfaang a defining feature of everyday life in Kom and among Kom subjects.
Author(s): Walter Gam Nkwi
Publisher: African Books Collective
Year: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 434
Cover......Page 1
Title page......Page 2
Copyright page......Page 3
Contents......Page 4
Foreword......Page 6
Preface......Page 10
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Chapter 1 - Introduction: Theory and Progress of Kfaang......Page 18
Tradition and Modernity in Kfaang......Page 23
Information Communication Technology (ICTs): Confronting the Stereotype......Page 26
The ‘Construction of Society’......Page 35
The Significance of the book......Page 37
The Anatomy of the Book......Page 39
Proposed History Writing......Page 42
A Brief Description of the Fieldwork Region......Page 44
Kom in the History and Historiography of the Bamenda Grassfields......Page 49
Fieldwork Research......Page 53
Oral Traditions in Kom......Page 61
Fieldwork Experiences......Page 62
Talking and Interacting with People: Towards an Historical Ethnography......Page 63
Target Groups: Women, Men and Youths......Page 66
Conclusion......Page 67
The Creation and Expansion of Kom......Page 70
Political Leadership in Kom......Page 75
The Dynamics of Geographical Mobility......Page 78
Indigenous Industry and the Colonial Situation......Page 79
Geography and Mobility......Page 81
Trade and Mobility......Page 82
The British Period, (tu ingris ) c.1920s-1961......Page 92
The Post-Colonial Period, 1961-2008......Page 94
Conclusion......Page 95
Introduction......Page 98
Colonialism and Road Construction......Page 99
The Fon and the Road Construction......Page 103
Njinikom-Fundong Road, 1955-1959......Page 109
Ngwaah-Abuh-Fujua-Fundong Road, 1959-60......Page 111
Anyajua-Babungo-Belo Road, 1955-1961......Page 112
The Second phase of Bamenda-Kom Road, 1993-1998......Page 113
The Road and Consequences......Page 116
The Congo Bar......Page 119
Conclusion......Page 123
Introduction......Page 124
The Motor Vehicle in Kom......Page 126
The Vehicle and Picture......Page 130
The ‘Domestication’ of Newness (technology, kfaang )......Page 132
Sitting Arrangements and Running Commentaries......Page 135
The Motor Vehicle in Society......Page 138
Motor Vehicles and Social Status......Page 143
Conclusion......Page 146
Introduction......Page 148
Reforms and Reformers, c.1926-c.1966......Page 149
Christians on the Move......Page 153
The Birth of ‘New Men’......Page 164
The Catechist School and ‘Important New Men’......Page 166
Juliana Ekfwi Chiambong and the Credit Union in Kom......Page 172
Conclusion......Page 178
Introduction......Page 180
Education on the Colonial and Missionary Agenda......Page 183
St. Anthony’s School, Njinikom, Kom, 1928......Page 185
Biographical Sketches......Page 189
Chief Anyway Ndichia Timti: A New Model......Page 194
Conclusion......Page 204
Introduction......Page 206
The 1915 Illiterate Ordinance Act and Letter Writing/Writers: An Obsession with Modernity......Page 209
The Emergence of Letter Technology in Kom......Page 211
The Mbain-Missionary Standoff: An example of a Certified Letter Writer......Page 214
Conclusion......Page 220
Introduction......Page 222
Return Migration......Page 223
Social networks of Returned Migrants......Page 225
Returned migrants as the Purveyors of Kfaang and Sharing Kfaang Things......Page 227
Discussion......Page 235
Introduction......Page 242
The First World War and Cameroon: A Short History......Page 243
Recruitment of Soldiers in the Bamenda Grassfields......Page 245
Ex-Soldiers or ‘Fernando Po Repartees’......Page 247
The ex-servicemen and new Appeal of Religious Theology......Page 250
New Romantics: “Love” and “Sex”......Page 251
Ex- Servicemen, 1939-1945 and their encounters......Page 253
Introduction......Page 264
Kom women and the Coast (Itini Kfaang ), situation......Page 265
Women Church, Christianity and Kfaang (Ndo Fiyini Ni iwo Fiyini Kfaang )......Page 268
Royal women in search of kfaang......Page 269
Women, School and literacy (ndogwali kfaang)......Page 272
A Biographical Sketch......Page 278
Fleeing to be free......Page 282
Gently revolutionary......Page 283
In Conclusion......Page 285
Introduction......Page 286
Native Authorities and Foot Messengers......Page 287
Foot Messengers......Page 290
Chiabi Applies for Annual Leave......Page 296
Chiabi’s Daughter and Sister-in-Law Dies......Page 297
Flag Post Mail Relay Runners System......Page 301
Modus Operandi of the Flag Post System......Page 304
Flag Post Mail Relay Runners in Kom (nfi ndo nwali ni chap)......Page 307
The Text Messenger......Page 308
Text Messengers......Page 309
Some Conclusions......Page 311
Introduction......Page 314
Kom-Bamenda Encounter: Kubou’s Compound (a beiKubou ), Old Town......Page 315
Journey from Kom to Old Town (Bamenda), 1928-c.1970s......Page 317
Kubou’s Compound in Cameroon Politics......Page 322
The Significance of Kubou’s Compound for the Creation of ‘Komness’......Page 328
Going to the Coast (Itini Kfaang ), 1928-c.1960s......Page 338
The Kom-Yola Connection......Page 341
Depth and Durability of Kfaang......Page 343
Conclusion......Page 345
Chapter 14 - Conclusion: Kom Identity as Work In Progress......Page 348
Epiphany 1: Some methodological assumptions, conceptual meditations and conclusions......Page 350
Epiphany 2: Kom Cultural Identity and Social Transformation......Page 352
Epiphany 3: “The”......Page 354
Epiphany 4: The Confluence of History and Anthropology: Historiography or Anthropography?......Page 355
Epiphany 5: Kom way of mobility......Page 357
Bibliography......Page 362
Back cover......Page 434
