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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Levels of Historical Awareness: The Development of Identity and Ethnicity in Cameroon
Author:Vubo, Emmanuel YenshuISNI
Year:2003
Periodical:Cahiers d'études africaines
Volume:43
Issue:171
Pages:591-628
Language:English
Geographic term:Cameroon
Subjects:ethnic identity
Duala
ethnicity
Kedjon polity
Ethnic and Race Relations
History and Exploration
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Economics and Trade
colonialism
External link:https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.1617
Abstract:The development of a sense of history and collective identity has tended to vary depending on whether it was situated at the local community level or at the level of the nation-State. This affected the politics of identity in the colonial period and has continued to fashion postcolonial identity politics. There is evidently a contradiction between scientific and ideological constructions of history. This paper explores the formulation or reformulation of history, the development of identity, and identity politics in the Sawa and Kedjom communities of Cameroon. It demonstrates that history inspires different types of practices at different levels. Local level histories are essentially histories that ensure the cultural, psychosocial and political unity of a group, while regional level histories tend to portray intercommunity relations. The impact of colonial and postcolonial developments on historical awareness cannot be underestimated. The paper further describes how communities in the modern setting manage identity pluralism at different levels depending on the different meanings that are attributed to historical traditions. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
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