Middlemen of the Cameroon Rivers: The Duala and their Hinterland c.

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
TItle......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Contents......Page 9
Tables......Page 10
Preface......Page 11
Abbreviations......Page 13
1 Introduction......Page 15
The ethnographic present: c. 1850......Page 19
The chronology of settlement: non-written sources......Page 22
The chronology of migration: European sources......Page 29
The rationale of coastal settlement: from fishing to trade......Page 33
European ivory and slave trade......Page 37
European trade and Duala politics......Page 46
Internal development in the formative period: state vs segmentation......Page 54
Early Duala political development in comparative perspective......Page 57
3 Hegemony without control: the Duala, Europeans and the Littoral hinterland in the era of legitimate/free trade,…......Page 62
From slave trade to ‘‘legitimate’’ export goods......Page 63
The geography and politics of inland trade......Page 71
The European presence......Page 75
a. Merchants......Page 76
b. Naval and consular authority......Page 78
c. The Baptist mission......Page 80
a. The market......Page 84
b. Trust......Page 88
c. Partnership and intermarriage......Page 90
d. Currencies and market language......Page 92
The politics of disorder......Page 95
Political competition and political economy......Page 96
Institutional change and stasis......Page 98
Internal crises and colonial annexation......Page 102
4 Mythic transformation and historical continuity: Duala middlemen and German colonial rule, 1884–1914......Page 107
The Duala and the German state......Page 108
Neo-consular rule, 1884–1885......Page 109
Restricted formal administration, 1885–c. 1900......Page 111
The Puttkamer era, c. 1897–1907......Page 112
The era of ‘‘reform,’’ 1907–1914......Page 113
Segmentary politics and colonial chiefdom......Page 114
From segmentation to formal jurisdiction......Page 115
Segmentary politics with a German accent: Akwa vs. Bell, 1885–1911......Page 117
The Duala colonial economy: from merchants to planters......Page 122
The coastal marketplace......Page 123
The inland rivers......Page 126
Founding an African plantation system......Page 130
Cultural brokerage and colonial middleman identity......Page 134
The German perspective: Kulturkampf in Kamerun......Page 135
New Duala elites of the German era......Page 138
The expropriation crisis: apotheosis of mythic politics......Page 142
German initiative and debate......Page 143
The Duala response......Page 146
Conclusion: the power of myth......Page 148
5 Middlemen as ethnic elite: the Duala under French mandate rule, 1914–1941......Page 152
Establishing a French regime......Page 153
Duala protest: the politics of petitions......Page 158
Expropriation: reformed, protested and extended......Page 166
Lotin Samé and the Native Baptist Church......Page 173
Apogee: the 1920s......Page 178
Decline: the 1930s and before......Page 180
Middleman status as ethnicity......Page 182
Politics in a new key: the approach of World War II......Page 186
The uneven march towards independence......Page 190
History as electoral capital: the political career of Prince Alexander Ndoumbe Douala Manga Bell......Page 193
Middleman nationalism: the politics of Paul Soppo Priso......Page 195
From tradition as politics to politics as tradition: the Ngondo......Page 198
Conclusion: middlemen as historical paradigm......Page 204
2 FROM FISHERMEN TO MIDDLEMEN......Page 206
3 HEGEMONY WITHOUT CONTROL......Page 213
4 MYTHIC TRANSFORMATION AND HISTORICAL CONTINUITIES......Page 225
5 MIDDLEMEN AS ETHNIC ELITE......Page 236
6 BETWEEN COLONIALISM AND RADICAL NATIONALISM......Page 245
B VILLAGE ELDERS......Page 249
GERMANY......Page 250
4 PUBLISHED PRIMARY SOURCES......Page 251
5 SECONDARY SOURCES......Page 253
Index......Page 264