Kingdom on Mount Cameroon: Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast 1500-1970 (Cameroon Studies, V. 1) [Hardcover]

Edwin Ardener (Author), Shirley Ardener (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1996 | ISBN-10: 1571819290 | ISBN-13: 978-1571819291

The Bakweri people of Mount Cameroon, an active volcano on the coast of West Africa a few degrees north of the equator, have had a varied and at times exciting history which has brought them into contact, not only with other West African peoples, but with merchants, missionaries, soldiers and administrators from Portugal, Holland, England, Jamaica, Sweden, Germany and more recently France. Edwin Ardener, the distinguished social anthropologist who spoke their language, wrote a number of studies on the history and culture of the Bakweri Kingdom. Some of the unpublished writings, and some of the published but now out of print materials are here brought together for the first time. The book covers the early contacts with the Portuguese and Dutch from the sixteenth century, the arrival of the missionaries in the nineteenth century, the dramatic defeat of the first German punitive expedition, the subsequent establishment by the Germans of the plantation system, and the British Trusteeship period until independence in 1961 as part of the Federal Republic of Cameroon.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... it is worth saluting Berghahn, the publisher that produces the Cameroon Studies series. This undertaking, which now runs to five volumes (with more on the way) is a wonderful resource for English-speaking students of Cameroonian history. Not only are these books well produced with plentiful illustrations, but they are also reasonably priced. They will form some of the canonical texts for Camerooon studies for years to come, and Cameroonists are very lucky to have such a supportive publisher... Cameroonists now have a whole group of newly available primary sources, elegantly set in context and ready for interpretation." African Affairs "... collected in a single volume, [these papers] become a rich case study of an African people's relations with various European agents over more than four centuries." Choice "... a true treasure... challenging example of how history and anthropology can be combined in practice... such a combination can offer a deeper understanding of present-day issues and tensions." Africa

About the Author

Edwin Ardener was one of the most important social anthropologists in Britain of his time, working on social, economic, demographic and political problems and particularly influential in his sustained effort to bring together social anthropology and linguistics in a highly original attempt to reconcile scientific and humanistic approaches to the study of society. This volume offers the best of Ardener's papers and forms a theoretically and conceptually coherent body of work by this innovative and profound thinker, which will continue to excite and stimulate new generations of students and researchers as it did in the past. Shirley Ardener, a well-published social anthropologist, is a Senior Associate of Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University. She was the founding director of the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research on Women, now the International Gender Studies Centre, of which she remains an active honorary member.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Berghahn Books (July 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571819290
• ISBN-13: 978-1571819291
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,376,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > History > Africa > Cameroon

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Key Ethnic Group of Cameroon, December 28, 2003

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kingdom on Mount Cameroon: Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast 1500-1970 (Cameroon Studies, V. 1) (Hardcover)

On the slopes of an active volcano, Mount Cameroon, from which the country of Cameroon takes its name, are a fascinating people called the Bakweri. Their locale geographically dominates the entire region, and historically the Bakweri leveraged this into various forms of advantage, at times commercial and at times political.

When the Europeans arrived, they too saw the strategic significance of the Bakwiri's area. Four centuries of interaction followed, as described here in a posthumous collection of papers written by the anthropologist Edwin Ardener. He covered many aspects of that history in research that took him decades to amass.

Some readers may find most compelling the narrative of how the Bakwiri defeated the Germans in an 1894 battle, though they eventually lost that war. A European defeat in Africa in the 19th century was rare indeed. But for some reason, this battle has been far less remembered than the British defeat by the Zulus at Isandlwana.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just GREAT!!, February 17, 2010

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Peter Tomdio (Va, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kingdom on Mount Cameroon: Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast 1500-1970 (Paperback)

The author does a great job painting what Kamerun was like before Kamerun and Cameroon. A detailed account of Joseph Merrick's trip. Narrating the German infiltration into this Nation alongside the importance Mount Cameroon posed for the Germans economically; the building of plantations and securing a route to Douala for exporting. Mr. Ardner compares notes made by the Germans (translated) and narratives from locals to tell the true story of what the atmosphere was like. How the building of plantations affected the Bakweri and the surrounding villages; divorces; migration; a fear for a lost "real Bakweri"; concubinage; traditions; the fight of Kuva Lykenye with the Germans; the Plebiscite and so much more...Great Job by Edwin and Shirley Ardner.