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Translocal cultures: The slave trade and cultural transfer in the Cross River region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2006

UTE M. RÖSCHENTHALER
UTE M. RÖSCHENTHALER
Affiliation:
J. W. G.-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Institut für Historische Ethnologie, Grüneburgplatz 1, 60323 Frankfurt, [email protected]
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Abstract

The transatlantic slave trade did not simply produce a history of dislocation and disruption in Africa. In the Cross River region, trade simultaneously inspired cultural innovation and transregional exchange. This contributed to the creation and dissemination of numerous associations and cult agencies. Not only did freemen own such institutions but also their slaves who had taken the knowledge of them along from their Grassfields homes. This paper explores the dissemination histories of some of these institutions as well as the relationship and mutual fears of both the slaves and their masters. While associations and cult agencies of the latter continue to be prominent in the Cross River region, the slaves institutions have largely disappeared.

Type
Research Article
Information
Social Anthropology , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , February 2006 , pp. 71 - 91
Copyright
Cambridge University Press 2006

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Footnotes

This paper is based on field research in southwest Cameroon and southeast Nigeria carried out between 1987 and 1988, and between 1998 and 2001. The first research project was supported by the Nachwuchsförderung des Landes Berlin and the German Academic Exchange Service, and the second by the German Research Council in cooperation with the University of Frankfurt/Main. Especially between 1998 and 2001, I took down village and association histories in 81 Ejagham villages in Cameroon and Nigeria, and in 48 adjacent localities of different ethnic identities (Banyang, Korup, Oroko, Boki, Bassossi, Biase, Mbembe etc.) The results of the project will be published in my forthcoming book, Purchasing culture. The dissemination of associations and cult agencies in the Cross River region of Cameroon and Nigeria. For their encouragement and their comments on this paper I am particularly grateful to Nicolas Argenti, Mike Rowlands, and Peter Geschiere.