Transacting Obasinjom: The Dissemination of a Cult Agency in the Cross River Area

Primary Patriotism, Shifting Identity: Hometown Associations in Manyu Division, South-West Cameroon

“…Manyu's rich associational life, noted for over a century (Röschenthaler 2004), relates partly to this long history of movement and trade, which brought new associational forms from Nigeria and, more recently, new social relations and associations in the context of economic outmigration. In the 1950s and 1960s, the anthropologist Malcolm Ruel found that outmigration in Manyu was already considerable.…”

“…But the most important neotraditional force promoting both intraand inter-village cohesion is the male society ngbe, meaning 'leopard' (Röschenthaler 2004;Ruel 1969), found in most of Manyu and extending beyond it. Some other initiation societies are similarly transethnic, including the moningkim society for women, but ngbe is 'undoubtedly the most effective of the traditional political associations within the whole of the Cross River area' (Ruel 1969: xix).…”

“…There is sometimes more than one ngbe lodge even in small villages and, in chieftaincy disputes, these lodges may be led by or allied to one side or the other, as in Besongabang. 35 There are also dissenters from ngbe, particularly among evangelical Christians, who in Manyu are also in Ejagham, including those of the obasinjom society, again reflecting its dissemination history (Manyu elite, Yaoundé, 21 April 2005;Röschenthaler 2004;Ruel 1969). 33 The extent and role of ngbe in the international diaspora was not researched here.…”

“…Fieldwork was conducted mostly in Mamfe Central and the neighbouring 'Central Ejagham' area of Eyumojock, so the article focuses on the Banyang and Ejagham. Like most other ethnic groups in South-West Province, those in Manyu have a relatively flat political structure, described as acephalous, decentralized, diffuse, segmentary or stateless (Konings and Nyamnjoh 2003;Nyamnjoh and Rowlands 1998;Röschenthaler 2004;Ruel 1969). Chieftaincy is often a wholly colonial construct and relatively weak in authority, although the village is the basic and most important unit of neotraditional government.…”

“…Movements of people into and through South-West Province, including Manyu, are longstanding. Most Manyu groups acted as middlemen in the Atlantic slave trade (Röschenthaler 2004). Large influxes of outsiders from the more densely populated Grassfields and from south-east Nigeria continued during the colonial and postindependence periods, driven partly by development of plantation agriculture on the fertile volcanic soils of South-West Province (Geschiere and Gugler 1998;Konings 1993) and augmented by refugees from the Biafran war of 1967-70.…”