The story of houses in the grassfields: mobility, belonging and hierarchies in urbanising North-West Cameroon

The central argument of this thesis is to establish the link between mobility, material culture and urbanisation in Africa with special focus on the urban elite of Baba I in the North West Region of Cameroon. The study lies within an intricate political system and topography. The thesis questions the effects of material culture on landscape transformation of the society through mobility. Over the past decades, the use and acquisition of land have changed greatly with increased geographical and social mobility. This has caused tremendous effects on the lives of people be it politically, economically and socially and above all in the dynamics of land acquisition and development. The changes on the landscapes are not only physically visible but also socio-culturally with the way people carry themselves around through their daily interactions. Thus, the thesis attempts to study these transformation processes in the form of an ethnography of mobility and belonging of the Papiakum people of Baba I. An extra contribution of this thesis is that it is the first to tell the story of the Papiakum who have been glossed over by the early colonial ethnographers and anthropologists of the North Western Grassfields of Cameroon. The research focused on a specific group: the urban dwellers of Baba I who are constructing at home. I tried to understand the meaning and importance of land and houses (home) within the Baba community in which these elites invest. The study of these changing infrastructural landscapes gave an insight into the socio-political and cultural settings and challenges as well as the role of the elite in development.. The construction of these houses and other infrastructure are an expression of this elite’s belonging as required by Papiakum cultural tenets.