Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon
by Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta Mougoué
University of Michigan Press, 2019 Paper: 978-0-472-05413-8 | eISBN: 978-0-472-12524-1 | Cloth: 978-0-472-07413-6 Library of Congress Classification HQ1236.5.C17M68 2019 Dewey Decimal Classification 305.40967110904
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon illuminates how issues of ideal womanhood shaped the Anglophone Cameroonian nationalist movement in the first decade of independence in Cameroon, a west-central African country. Drawing upon history, political science, gender studies, and feminist epistemologies, the book examines how formally educated women sought to protect the cultural values and the self-determination of the Anglophone Cameroonian state as Francophone Cameroon prepared to dismantle the federal republic. The book defines and uses the concept of embodied nationalism to illustrate the political importance of women’s everyday behavior—the clothes they wore, the foods they cooked, whether they gossiped, and their deference to their husbands. The result, in this fascinating approach, reveals that West Cameroon, which included English-speaking areas, was a progressive and autonomous nation. The author’s sources include oral interviews and archival records such as women’s newspaper advice columns, Cameroon’s first cooking book, and the first novel published by an Anglophone Cameroonian woman.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta Mougoué is Assistant Professor of Gender & Sexuality in African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
REVIEWS
“Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon offers an engaging and provocative analysis that is attractive and accessible to undergraduate and graduate students. It is clear, lively, nicely spiced with humor, and seasoned with a good mix of clear-eyed analysis and warm empathy. Good cookery for the mind.”
--Judith Van Allen, Cornell University
— -
“Mougoué makes significant contributions to the history of Cameroon, to our understanding of the potential emergence of secessionist movements in Africa, to the way in which gender relations play a role in such historical developments, and to the history of women and girls in Anglophone Africa. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon is excellent; it is a joy to read.”
--Gretchen Bauer, University of Delaware
— -
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Acknowledgments
A Note on Terminology
Abbreviations
Introduction. “What the Women of a Nation Are, So Shall the Nation Be”: Gendered Nationalism in Cameroon
Chapter 1. Tracing the “Golden Age” of Anglophone Cameroon: Gender, Nationalism, and Political Identity
Chapter 2. Men Must Not “Die Alone in the Task of Nation-Building”: Women’s Organizations and Nationalist Activities
Chapter 3. “God Will Be Eating Grass”: Cooking Anglophone Nationalism
Chapter 4. “Beauty Contest Not Only for Free Girls”: Modeling Anglophone Identity
Chapter 5. The Plague of “Gossips and Vindictiveness”: Mediating Social Behaviors and Delineating Public and Private Spheres
Chapter 6. “My Husband Stopped Maintaining Me So I Beat Up His Girl”: Jealous Housewives, “Women Extremists,” and Public Conduct
Chapter 7. “When Women Wear Slacks”: “Single-Trouser Nationalism” and Public Space
Conclusion. Takumbeng Unleashed: Women’s Continual Collective Mobilization in Anglophone Nationalism
Appendix: Methods and Sources
Notes
Bibliography
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
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Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon
by Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta Mougoué
University of Michigan Press, 2019 Paper: 978-0-472-05413-8 eISBN: 978-0-472-12524-1 Cloth: 978-0-472-07413-6
Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon illuminates how issues of ideal womanhood shaped the Anglophone Cameroonian nationalist movement in the first decade of independence in Cameroon, a west-central African country. Drawing upon history, political science, gender studies, and feminist epistemologies, the book examines how formally educated women sought to protect the cultural values and the self-determination of the Anglophone Cameroonian state as Francophone Cameroon prepared to dismantle the federal republic. The book defines and uses the concept of embodied nationalism to illustrate the political importance of women’s everyday behavior—the clothes they wore, the foods they cooked, whether they gossiped, and their deference to their husbands. The result, in this fascinating approach, reveals that West Cameroon, which included English-speaking areas, was a progressive and autonomous nation. The author’s sources include oral interviews and archival records such as women’s newspaper advice columns, Cameroon’s first cooking book, and the first novel published by an Anglophone Cameroonian woman.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta Mougoué is Assistant Professor of Gender & Sexuality in African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
REVIEWS
“Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon offers an engaging and provocative analysis that is attractive and accessible to undergraduate and graduate students. It is clear, lively, nicely spiced with humor, and seasoned with a good mix of clear-eyed analysis and warm empathy. Good cookery for the mind.”
--Judith Van Allen, Cornell University
— -
“Mougoué makes significant contributions to the history of Cameroon, to our understanding of the potential emergence of secessionist movements in Africa, to the way in which gender relations play a role in such historical developments, and to the history of women and girls in Anglophone Africa. Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon is excellent; it is a joy to read.”
--Gretchen Bauer, University of Delaware
— -
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Acknowledgments
A Note on Terminology
Abbreviations
Introduction. “What the Women of a Nation Are, So Shall the Nation Be”: Gendered Nationalism in Cameroon
Chapter 1. Tracing the “Golden Age” of Anglophone Cameroon: Gender, Nationalism, and Political Identity
Chapter 2. Men Must Not “Die Alone in the Task of Nation-Building”: Women’s Organizations and Nationalist Activities
Chapter 3. “God Will Be Eating Grass”: Cooking Anglophone Nationalism
Chapter 4. “Beauty Contest Not Only for Free Girls”: Modeling Anglophone Identity
Chapter 5. The Plague of “Gossips and Vindictiveness”: Mediating Social Behaviors and Delineating Public and Private Spheres
Chapter 6. “My Husband Stopped Maintaining Me So I Beat Up His Girl”: Jealous Housewives, “Women Extremists,” and Public Conduct
Chapter 7. “When Women Wear Slacks”: “Single-Trouser Nationalism” and Public Space
Conclusion. Takumbeng Unleashed: Women’s Continual Collective Mobilization in Anglophone Nationalism
Appendix: Methods and Sources
Notes
Bibliography
Index
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE