Submit your papersSubmit Now
For Enquiries: [email protected]
IIARD LogoIIARD

Ancient and Post-Colonial Kom Fondom: Continuity, Change, and Transformation in Governance and Cultural Practices, 18 Century-1961

Ndiwum Ankinimbom Rene, Yakam Yola A Juma

Abstract

This article examines the enduring legacies of colonialism on governance structures and cultural practices in Kom Fondom, Cameroon, from independence in 1961 to the contemporary period. Using historical and qualitative analysis based on archival sources, oral testimonies, and literature, the study investigates how colonial administrative, political, and cultural systems persisted, transformed, or resisted in post-colonial Kom society. The findings highlight the continuity of traditional authority through the Fonship and palace councils, as well as the integration of customary institutions into the modern state framework. The study also analyzes the long-term influence of Christianity and Western education on cultural practices and social organization. Furthermore, it examines socio-economic structures shaped by colonial rule, including land tenure systems, cash-crop production, and labor patterns, alongside changing gender relations, with particular reference to the Anlu movement as an example of indigenous resistance and social agency. The results reveal a complex interaction of continuity, adaptation, and transformation, demonstrating that colonial legacies remain deeply embedded in the political, social, and cultural life of Kom Fondom.

Keywords

Colonial legacyKom Fondomgovernancecultural transformationtraditional authoritypost-colonial Cameroon.

References

1. Ardener, Edwin. Kingdom on Mount Cameroon: Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast, 1500–1970. Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1996. 2. Austen, Ralph A. African Economic History: Internal Development and External Dependency. London: Heinemann, 1984. 3. Bayart, Jean-François. L'État en Afrique: La Politique du Ventre. Paris: Fayard, 1979. 4. Chabal, Patrick, and Jean-Pascal Daloz. Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. 5. Chem-Langhee, Bongfen. “The Political Role of Traditional Rulers in Cameroon” Paideuma 32 (1986): pp.45–57. 6. Chilver, E. M., and P. M. Kaberry. Traditional Bamenda: The Pre-Colonial History and Ethnography of the Bamenda Grassfields. Buea: Government Printer, 1967. 7. Clignet, Remi, and Philip Foster. Religion and Social Change in Africa. New York: Anchor Books, 1966. 8. Crowder, Michael. West Africa under Colonial Rule. London: Hutchinson, 1968. 9. Crowder, Michael. “Indirect Rule: French and British Style” Africa 34, no. 3 (1964): pp.197– 216. 10. Fanso, Verkijika G. Cameroon History for Secondary Schools and Colleges, Volume 2: The Colonial and Post-Colonial Periods. London: Macmillan, 1989, pp. 67–205. 11. Fonchingong, Charles C. “The State and Civil Society in Cameroon” African Journal of International Affairs 7, no. 1–2 (2004): pp.89–108. 12. Geschiere, Peter. Chiefs and Colonial Rule in Cameroon: Inventing Chieftaincy, French and British Style. London: James Currey, 1993. 13. Hafkin, Nancy J., and Edna Bay. Women in Africa: Studies in Social and Economic Change. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1976. 14. Hastings, Adrian. A History of African Christianity: 1950–1997. London: SCM Press, 1997. 15. Hastings, Adrian. The Church in Africa, 1450–1950. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. 16. Hobsbawm, Eric, and Terence Ranger, . The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. 17. Holm, John. African Indigenous Institutions: Past and Present. London: Routledge, 2000. 18. Konings, Piet, and Francis B. Nyamnjoh. Negotiating an Anglophone Identity: A Study of the Politics of Recognition and Representation in Cameroon. Leiden: Brill, 2003. 19. Lugard, Frederick D. The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa. London: W. Blackwood & Sons, 1922. 20. Mamdani, Mahmood. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996. 21. Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy. London: Heinemann, 1969. 22. Nkwi, Paul Nchoji. Tradition, Culture and Society in the Western Grassfields of Cameroon. Bamenda: CEPER, 1985. 24. Nkwi, Paul Nchoji, and Jean-Pierre Warnier. Elements for a History of the Western Grassfields. Yaoundé: University of Yaoundé Press. 25. Phillipson, David W. African Archaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. 26. Perry, G. W., and J. Hall. African Traditional Religions: An Annotated Bibliography. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975. 27. Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. London: Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications, 1972. 28. Rudin, Harry R. Germans in the Cameroons, 1884–1914: A Case Study in Modern Imperialism. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1938. 29. Sundkler, Bengt, and Christopher Steed. A History of the Church in Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. 30. Tohmuntain, Bernard. Religion, Education and Social Change in Kom Fondom. Bamenda: Patron Publishing House, 2002. 31. Vansina, Jan. Oral Tradition as History. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985. 32. Warnier, Jean-Pierre. The Mountain and the City: From Pre-Colonial Metropolis to Colonial Regional Capital in the Grassfields of Cameroon. Hamburg: Lit Verlag, 1993. 33. Young, Crawford. The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.

More Articles from RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND CULTURAL STUDIES

?abi’un Da Suke Na?asa Mazakuta (Practices That Impair Male Sexual Health)

Author: Dalhatu Abubakar Zauro PhD, Dr. Shehu Adamu Argungu PhD, Lauwali Aliyu PhD, TSAKURE, Wasu ?abiu, da suke Na?asa Mazakuta., Gyara kayanka, ba zai zama sauke mu raba ba

Cutar Sanyi Da Magungunanta A Gargajiyance (Gonorrhea and It’s Cure in Hausa Traditional Medicines

Author: Lauwali Aliyu PhD, Shehu Adamu PhD, ?alhatu Abubakar Zauro PhD, Tsakure, . Gabatarwa