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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Between mosque and palace: defining identity through ritual practice in Ngaoundéré, Cameroon |
Author: | DeLancey, Mark Dike |
Year: | 2012 |
Periodical: | Cahiers d'études africaines (ISSN 0008-0055) |
Volume: | 52 |
Issue: | 208 |
Pages: | 975-998 |
Language: | French |
Geographic term: | Cameroon |
Subjects: | Fulani Mbum (Cameroon, Central African Republic) rituals Islam mosques palaces identity architecture |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.17216 |
Abstract: | This article examines the relationship of architecture and ritual practice during Friday Prayer in the northern Cameroonian city of Ngaoundéré. Every Friday, the ruler of Ngaoundéré, a sub-emirate of the Sokoto Caliphate in contemporary Cameroon, makes his way at the appointed hour across the public square that lies before his palace to lead prayer in the central mosque. Following the prayer, the ruler returns to the palace surrounded by great fanfare and pageantry after which he receives the assembled nobility for a council meeting. The mosque and the palace which physically bracket these weekly ceremonies represent the principal populations of Ngaoundéré - the formerly nomadic, pastoral, Muslim Fulbé and the sedentary, agricultural, non-Muslim Mboum. The connection of mosque to palace through ritual reflects the role of the ruler as unifier of the populations represented by these monuments, and as the fulcrum for the construction of a unique local identity. Bibliogr., note, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract] |