Chieftaincy Politics and the Explosion of the Anglophone (Ambazonian) Crisis in Cameroon
2 Nov 2025

Chieftaincy Politics and the Explosion of the Anglophone (Ambazonian) Crisis in Cameroon

by | posted in: Cameroon Studies, Grassfields Studies, Political Anthropology | 0

This chapter is a continuation of my efforts to investigate and elaborate on the intercalary position of traditional rulers in Africa, specifically those in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon (Fokwang, 2005, 2009, 2011). Many scholars and activists continue to see traditional rulers as ‘decentralized despots’ (Mamdani, 1996) with little to offer other than acting as brokers for political capital between an unpopular centralized state machinery and a largely dispossessed rural peasantry (Fisiy, 1995; Jua, 1995).

Contemporary Documentary Films from Cameroon
11 Aug 2025

Contemporary Documentary Films from Cameroon

by | posted in: Cameroon Studies, Ethnographic Film, Historical Studies | 0

I’d like to shine a spotlight on the remarkable works of one of Cameroon’s most celebrated filmmakers, Jean Marie Teno. If you’d like to learn more about Jean Marie Teno’s work, the award-winning book, “Reel Resistance – The Cinema of Jean-Marie Teno,” James Currey (2020), will give you even more details.

Centring Africana Voices in Contemporary Publishing
1 Jul 2024

Centring Africana Voices in Contemporary Publishing

by | posted in: Lectures | 1

In this brief presentation, I offer a few reflections on what it entails to move beyond rhetoric with respect to decolonising publishing in Africa. As I see it, we are doing, not just talking about defiant scholarship and publishing. We understand decolonising within the context of our work as defying and dismantling the norms, assumptions and gate-keeping practices that have historically shaped who and what gets published.

Cultivating Moral Citizenship
10 Feb 2023

Cultivating Moral Citizenship

by | posted in: Cameroon Studies, Development Studies, Ethnography & Methods, Gender Studies, Grassfields Studies, Youth Studies | 1

In Cultivating Moral Citizenship, ethnographer, Jude Fokwang unpacks the meanings, mechanisms and processes through which young people in an inner city of the West African nation of Cameroon respond to local and global challenges as they seek to position themselves as social adults.