Capitalism and autochthony: the seesaw of mobility and belonging

bibliographic database
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Book chapter

Title:	Capitalism and autochthony: the seesaw of mobility and belonging
Authors:	Geschiere, Peter Nyamnjoh, Francis
Book title:	Millennial capitalism and the culture of neoliberalism
Year:	2001
Pages:	159-190
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Cameroon
Subjects:	ethnicity democracy capitalism
Abstract:	This chapter deals with the relationship between capitalism and autochthony in Cameroon. It focuses on Cameroon's Southwest Province, which has recently become a hotbed of confrontations over autochthony and exclusion in direct relation to national politics. This example highlights the problems of a simplistic equation of capitalism with liberalization and homogenizing notions of the individual. Historically, capitalist interests were as much involved in promoting the mobility of labour as in formalizing cultural differences within the labour force (and thus freezing the boundaries of what used to be fluid communities). The example of southwest Cameroon illustrates this ambivalence particularly well. The chapter discusses the autochthony discourse in Cameroon, land and funerals as crucial issues of belonging, the link between national regimes, autochthony and elite associations, and autochthony, globalization and the paradoxes of capitalist labour history. Bibliogr., notes, ref.