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Making Ethnic Elites: Ritual Poetics in a Cameroonian Lycée

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Clare A. Ignatowski
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Abstract

This case study of youth cultural production in Cameroon examines how lycée students introduce idioms of tradition and the ancestral past into the lycée context by creating a club modelled on a dance society popular in the region. In pre-colonial rural Tupuriland, the gurna society was a key site for the moral–sexual socialisation of youth and a cultural–political arena where competition was staged between individuals and villages during death celebrations. Today, the gurna remains popular in Tupuri villages, though it has been recreated in urban contexts and modern institutions where members use its forms to mediate new social relations and modern realities. This paper explores the meanings, functions, and effects of the creation of the ‘Gurna Club’ by students in the Lycée de Doukoula, by examining students' Youth Day dance performances, vibrant song discourse, and nostalgia for earlier forms of indigenous socialisation (e.g. the gurna, youth initiation, and wrestling). By inserting the communal poetics of the gurna into the lycée, Tupuri youth seek to yoke multiple facets of their identity, making visible their desire to be gurna, even as they pursue their civic obligations as students. In creating the Gurna Club, students begin to participate in an increasing trend in Cameroon toward the use of idioms of parochialism (such as ethnically based elite associations) as strategies for garnering national power and recognition.

Résumé

Cette étude de cas sur la production culturelle des jeunes auCameroun examine la manière dont des élèves de lycée introduisent des idiomes de tradition et de passé ancestral dans le contexte du lycée en créant un club inspiré d'une société de danse très appréciée dans la région. Dans le Tupuriland rural précolonial, la société gurna était un lieu clé de socialisationmorale et sexuelle des jeunes et une arène politico-culturelle au sein de laquelle la concurrence était mise en scène entre individus et villages au cours de célébrations de la mort. Aujourd'hui, le gurna reste apprécié dans les villages tupuri, même s'il a été recréé dans des contextes urbains et des institutions modernes dont les membres utilisent ses formes pour faciliter de nouveaux rapports sociaux et réalités modernes. Ce papier étudie les significations, les fonctions et les effets de la création du Club Gurna par les élèves du lycée de Doukoula, en examinant les spectacles de danse donnés à l'occasion de la Journée de la jeunesse, le discours vibrant des chansons et la nostalgie de formes anciennes de socialisation indigène (ex. le gurna, l'initiation des jeunes et la lutte). En introduisant le poétique communal du gurna dans le lycée, les jeunes Tupuri cherchent à lier des facettes multiples de leur identité, en rendant visible leur désir d'être gurna, alors même qu'ils accomplissent leurs obligations civiques en tant qu'élèves. En créant le Club Gurna, les élèves commencent à participer à une tendance croissante au Cameroun, à savoir l'usage d'idiomes de parochialisme (tels qu'associations d'élites basées sur l'ethnie) en tant que stratégies d'obtention de reconnaissance et de pouvoir national.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 74 , Issue 3 , August 2004 , pp. 411 - 432
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2004

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