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Opening political space in Cameroon: the ambiguous response of the Mbororo
Abstract
This article discusses the impact of national democratic movements and economic crisis on internal political and social change in Mbororo pastoralist society, North West Province, Cameroon. Pulaaku, a Mbororo code of behaviour based on Mbororo distance, self‐control, individuality, and racial ‘purity’, is discussed in relation to the difficulties Mbororo society has in responding to internal divisions as population explosion and land pressure spell the demise of the basis of their former existence. Pulaaku is also seen as a form of traditional, cultural, resistance, both to the other, settled ethnic groups in the North West Province and to active integration into the Cameroon state and political system. Mbororo society has difficulty adjusting to the new, uncertain politics of active participation and debate. The article discusses the aims, fortunes and internal ambiguities of a new Mbororo organisation ‐ Mboscuda ‐ which, responding to the meeting of ethnic and state identities, attempts to provide both a democratic forum for the problems in Mbororo society and a voice for the Mbororo in a new, volatile, political arena.
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Bibliographic note
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