Deconstructing Masculinity in a ‘Female Bastion’: Ambiguities, Contradictions and Insights

This article is informed by my experiences teaching women’s studies and specifically feminist theory to predominantly female and male students offering Women’s studies. As a mainstream academic discipline at the University of Buea, housing the only such Department in Cameroon’s Higher Education system, this study uncovers the broader polemics regarding gender and women’s studies. Against the backdrop of a patriarchal society, this study attempts to account for the shifting strands on masculinity and femininity and gender transgressions as played out by students taking women’s studies. It also analyses the notions, misconceptions and stereotypes that characterise the discipline of women’s studies, specifically at the University of Buea, a replica of the cultural mindset across Cameroon, largely perceived as a female bastion. Borrowing from Derrida’s concept of deconstruction, this paper situates inherent biases, contradictions and the mediations surrounding the discipline. The standpoints of male and female students are sought on their reasons for taking women’s studies, how they are perceived by their peers in the University of Buea, the stereotypes and labels they are christened with and the ambivalence that surrounds women’s studies as a field of scholarship. The study concludes that women’s studies is largely construed as a ‘women’s affair’ and a “no go” area for males, on the pain of being considered effeminate while the female students are seen as fully ‘empowered’ and, therefore, a potential threat to the patriarchal order. Yet the survival of women’s studies as a discipline rests squarely on how it can be viewed by society at large

Unbending Gender Narratives in African Literature

The last century has witnessed an upsurge in literature triggered by the feminist movement. This unprecedented event has transformed the various literary genres that are being deconstructed to suit the changing times. African literature has not been spared by the universalized world order. The paper attempts a re-analysis of gender inequality from the pre-colonial to post-colonial period from the lenses of literary narratives. Male writers like Chinua Achebe, Elechi Amadi, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, and Cyprain Ekwensi in their literary mass are accused of condoning patriarchy, are deeply entrenched in a macho conviviality and a one dimensional and minimalised presentation of women who are demoted and assume peripheral roles. Their penchant to portray an androcentric narrative is at variance with the female gender that are trivialized through practices like patriarchy, tradition, culture, gender socialization process, marriage and domestic enslavement. The paper concludes with some contemporary showcases and meta-narratives by both male and female writers like Buchi Emecheta, Mariama Bâ, Ama Ata Aidoo, Flora Nwapa, Sembene Ousmane and Leopold Sedar Senghor who attempt to bridge the gender rifts in the African literary landscape

Crossing Rural-Urban Spaces

Traverser les espaces ruraux-urbains. Les Takumbeng et l’activisme dans la croisade démocratique du Cameroun. – Cet article s’intéresse au pouvoir exercé par les femmes au sein des sociétés secrètes et autres « enclaves féminines » au Cameroun et ailleurs. Il montre comment ce pouvoir est soumis à une constante transformation dans le paysage politique moderne. Les soulèvements, protestations et manifestations instigués par les femmes ont déjà été observés dans certaines sociétés camerounaises et dans d’autres régions d’Afrique, mais cet article s’intéresse tout particulièrement à la société féminine traditionnelle des Takumbeng et à sa politisation en cette période de démocratisation et de multipartisme. Nous examinerons la transformation de ce groupe dans le contexte de l’agitation collective et analyserons quel impact il subit sur la scène politique actuelle qui est caractérisée par une immense déception face au dédain et aux politiques non démocratiques du gouvernement national en place. Cette étude révèle le symbolisme et les métaphores, les interactions et raisons d’être culturelles qui se cachent derrière l’activisme de ce groupe en se plaçant du point de vue des acteurs en milieu urbain. L’article conclut que le groupe a accentué son combat continu pour la démocratie en s’appuyant sur son expérience de résistance, en ravivant la flamme de la démocratie sociale et en élevant la conscience politique dans la province Nord-Ouest du Cameroun, bastion du parti d’opposition, le Front social-démocrate.The article focuses on the power women wielded within secret societies and other women’s enclaves in Cameroon and beyond. It shows how this power is continuously being transformed in the modern political landscape. Female riots, protests and demonstrations have been recorded in certain societies in Cameroon and elsewhere in Africa but this paper looks at the Takumbeng traditional female society and its politicisation in the context of multiparty politics and democratisation. In this paper, the transformation of the group is examined against the backdrop of collective agitation and how it impacted on the political scene marked by an atmosphere of disenchantment with the highhandedness and undemocratic policies of the national government in place. The study captures the symbolism and metaphors, the cultural interplay and raison d’être behind the group’s activism from the lenses of the actors as played-out in an urban milieu. It concludes that the group enhanced the continuing struggle for democratic deepening through a legacy of resistance, restoring the flame of social democracy, raising political consciousness in the Northwest Province of Cameroon, a bastion of the Social Democratic Front opposition party

Re-Inventing Community Development: Utilizing Relational Networking and Cultural Assets for Infrastructure Provision

Utilizing relational networking and cultural assets provide an arena for village development associations (VDAs) to fill the gaps in infrastructure in resource-limited communities of Cameroon’s north-west region. This case study interrogates the foundational thesis of relational networking and cultural assets deployed to deal with social development challenges. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with community participants. Purposive sampling was used, and data were analyzed and critically synthesized with comparative literature. Communities increasingly shoulder their own development through a multiplicity of the agency displayed by internal and external stakeholders. The analysis captures a typology of incremental cultural assets, galvanized and re-engineered, promoting a rejuvenated community. A multi-layered approach centered on intersecting elements with unvarying input from community members are perceptible. Though the translational benefits are not clear-cut, relational networking and incremental cultural assets hold the prospect for community transformation in infrastructure provision, for example, supply of fresh water, equipping schools, community halls, and building roads, bridges, and community halls. In the process, social inequality and other barriers of disadvantage are narrowed

Gender dynamics of elderly welfare and semi-formal protection in Cameroon (NW and SW provinces)

Amidst the complexity of social security provision for the elderly in Cameroon, this gender-focused research engages with individual and collective agency by the elderly in fashioning support schemes in rural and urban areas. This challenges predominant development thinking that perceive the elderly as a burden and drain on the state, household and community. Drawing on social capital theory and economics of resource mobilization in poverty reduction, the role of informal institutions in elderly welfare support is assessed. Based on in-depth interviews, participant observation and focus group discussion in selected study sites in Cameroon, a needs assessment portfolio in evaluating daily needs (care, food, clothing, medication, firewood, water, assistance with farm work, remittances) was employed. Interviewees were also controlled for varying access to pensions, housing, residential patterns, forms of care available, livelihood strategies, household sizes, traditional support schemes, micro-insurance schemes, and benefits of social networking. The results are presented qualitatively showing significant demographic, socioeconomic variables and analysed through a typology of recurrent themes. A mixed picture of the elderly as key pillars in securing livelihoods, engineering community development initiatives, while others are in hardship requiring support is evident. The traditional forms of support are fragmenting and the elderly are walking the tight rope through a gamut of informal sector activities. Children, grand children and hired helpers are also playing a greater role in assisting the elderly. Drawing from accounts and scenarios, old men and women are affected unevenly due to differing coping mechanisms, adjustment patterns and inequalities in levels of support. Those in rural areas seem to be coping better than their counterparts in urban areas as a result of greater access to land, other accrued assets and still strong community relations. What stands out is the hard fact that njangis, mutual societies, faith-based organizations and village development associations, referred to in the research as semi-formal (at the interface of formal and informal care), are struggling to fill the gaps. These networks can barely provide psychological support, particularly funeral arrangements. Reversing the decline in elderly welfare hinges on partnerships mediated through the voluntary sector