Table Of ContentMougoué, Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism In Cameroon.
E-book, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202. Accessed 9 Mar 2021.
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Gender, SeparatiSt politicS, and
embodied nationaliSm in cameroon
Mougoué, Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta.G ender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism In Cameroon.
E-book, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202. Accessed 9 Mar 2021.
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Revised Pages Revised Pages
African Perspectives
Kelly Askew and Anne Pitcher
Series Editors
Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon
Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta Mougoué
The Postcolonial Animal: African Literature and Posthuman Ethics
Evan Maina Mwangi
Developing States, Shaping Citizenship:
Service Delivery and Political Participation in Zambia
Erin Accampo Hern
African Print Cultures: Newspapers and
Their Publics in the Twentieth Century,
edited by Derek R. Peterson, Emma Hunter,
and Stephanie Newell
Unsettled History: Making South African Public Pasts,
by Leslie Witz, Gary Minkley, and Ciraj Rassool
Seven Plays of Koffi Kwahulé: In and Out of Africa,
translated by Chantal Bilodeau and Judith G. Miller
edited with Introductions by Judith G. Miller
The Rise of the African Novel:
Politics of Language, Identity, and Ownership,
by Mukoma Wa Ngugi
Black Cultural Life in South Africa:
Reception, Apartheid, and Ethics,
by Lily Saint
Nimrod: Selected Writings,
edited by Frieda Ekotto
Mougoué, Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism In Cameroon.
E-book, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202. Accessed 9 Mar 2021.
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Gender, Separatist Politics, and
Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon
Jacqueline- Bethel Tchouta Mougoué
University of Michigan Press
Ann Arbor
Mougoué, Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism In Cameroon.
E-book, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202. Accessed 9 Mar 2021.
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Copyright © 2019 by Jacqueline- Bethel Tchouta Mougoué
All rights reserved
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except
by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher.
Published in the United States of America by the
University of Michigan Press
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed on acid- free paper
First published October 2019
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Mougoué, Jacqueline- Bethel Tchouta, 1983– author.
Title: Gender, separatist politics, and embodied nationalism in Cameroon / Jacqueline
Mougoue.
Description: Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2019. | Series: African
perspectives | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: lccn 2019019139 (print) | lccn 2019022361 (ebook) | isbn 9780472074136
(hardback) | isbn 9780472054138 (paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Women— Political activity— Cameroon— History— 20th century. |
Women— Cameroon— History— 20th century. | Women— Identity. | Nationalism—
Cameroon— History— 20th century. | Cameroon— Politics and government— 20th
century. | BISAC: HISTORY / Africa / Central. | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women’s Studies.
Classification: LCC hq1236.5.c17 M68 2019 (print) | LCC hq1236.5.c17 (ebook) |
DDC 305.4096711/0904— dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019019139
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019022361
Publication of this volume has been partially funded by the African Studies Center,
University of Michigan.
Mougoué, Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism In Cameroon.
E-book, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202. Accessed 9 Mar 2021.
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For my mother, Marcie Sidonie Tchouta Mougoué
Mami za si zo ma mbuani ntam ndua shuapu sie
(In Fe’fe’, also known as Bafang: “Mother, rest in peace
in the Lord’s house”)
Mougoué, Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism In Cameroon.
E-book, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202. Accessed 9 Mar 2021.
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Revised Pages
Mougoué, Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism In Cameroon.
E-book, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202. Accessed 9 Mar 2021.
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contentS
Acknowledgments ix
A Note on Terminology xiii
Abbreviations xv
Introduction
“What the Women of a Nation Are, So Shall the Nation Be”:
Gendered Nationalism in Cameroon 1
Chapter 1
Tracing the “Golden Age” of Anglophone Cameroon:
Gender, Nationalism, and Political Identity 25
Chapter 2
Men Must Not “Die Alone in the Task of Nation-B uilding”:
Women’s Organizations and Nationalist Activities 57
Chapter 3
“God Will Be Eating Grass”:
Cooking Anglophone Nationalism 95
Chapter 4
“Beauty Contest Not Only for Free Girls”:
Modeling Anglophone Identity 122
Chapter 5
The Plague of “Gossips and Vindictiveness”:
Mediating Social Behaviors and Delineating Public
and Private Spheres 157
Mougoué, Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism In Cameroon.
E-book, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202. Accessed 9 Mar 2021.
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viii • Contents
Chapter 6
“My Husband Stopped Maintaining Me So I Beat Up His Girl”:
Jealous Housewives, “Women Extremists,” and Public Conduct 177
Chapter 7
“When Women Wear Slacks”:
“Single- Trouser Nationalism” and Public Space 199
Conclusion
Takumbeng Unleashed:
Women’s Continual Collective Mobilization
in Anglophone Nationalism 224
Appendix: Methods and Sources 233
Notes 241
Bibliography 301
Index 323
Digital materials related to this title can be found on the Fulcrum platform
via the following citable URL: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202
Mougoué, Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism In Cameroon.
E-book, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202. Accessed 9 Mar 2021.
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acknowledGmentS
One day at a scholarly conference in Washington, DC, I tried to bargain as if
I were in an African market. The worker at the booth struggled to convince
me that the books being sold at the booth were just for show and that I would
have to place an order to get one. Among the works was Pamela Feldman-
Savelsberg’s newly released book. I had never met her, but I had long admired
her work, which shaped my curiosity and knowledge about gender in Cam-
eroon. I was desperate to have this second book, and I offered to pay twice
the asking price, exclaiming, “Please, I need this new book immediately!”
From behind me I heard a soft whisper, “I am Pamela and I have never heard
someone be so passionate about my work before!” I turned around to behold
Pamela, who offered me her own sample copy on the spot. We got to talking,
and the relationship that she and I eventually forged is one of many vital sup-
portive relationships in my life. Publishing my first book with the University
of Michigan Press, who published Pamela’s first, is an enormous honor.
The women I study fostered camaraderie and wove emotional relation-
ships, and so have those in my life, offering support beyond academia in
many aspects of life. Cameroonians in both Cameroon and the diaspora
facilitated the research for this book. I am grateful to the women who shared
their memories of West Cameroon in the 1960s and early 1970s, opening
their homes to me and providing the vivid narratives that are the backbone
of this book. Profound thanks to chief archivist Primus Forgwe and his staff
at the National Archives of Cameroon in Buea. At the University of Buea, I
am deeply indebted to Walter Gam Nkwi, who welcomed me as colleague
and friend, and Professor Joyce Endeley, Dorothy Forsac-Tata, and Helen
Linonge-Fontebo, who provided an African feminist intellectual community.
The staff at the National Archives in Yaoundé, especially Nevian Fonkwa,
provided guidance and support. Annie Kamani, Eileen Manka Tabuwe, and
Frida Bate served as my research assistants and interlocutors. In the United
States, I am deeply indebted to Esmeralda Kale, Marie-Th érèse Guessou, and
Mariana Endeley- Matute.
Mougoué, Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism In Cameroon.
E-book, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2019, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9955202. Accessed 9 Mar 2021.
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