Marriage and Memories of the Slave Trade Among the Ejaghams of Cameroon's Cross River Region

Warning

This publication doesn't include Faculty of Arts. It includes Faculty of Social Studies. Official publication website can be found on muni.cz.
Authors

NYOK Maurine Ekun

Year of publication 2024
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Africa Spectrum
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Social Studies

Citation
Web article - open access
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00020397241236493
Keywords Cameroon; gender; marriage; social memory; discrimination; culture
Attached files
Description Using interview data collected from communities in Cameroon's Cross River region, this study examines the experiences of “slave descendants” in their marriages/attempted marriages with “freemen.” Using theories from Mary Douglas and Erving Goffman to analyse their stories, I demonstrate that while “slave descendants” are legally permitted to marry members of “freeman” origin, in practice, some cultural privileges are stripped from those who choose to intermarry, especially impacting those of “freeman” origins. Among “freeman” individuals, beliefs exist that marrying a “slave descendant” can limit their social and cultural potential. For example, they believe such marriages will contaminate the purity of their bloodline. Correspondingly, I discovered that many “slave descendants” aspire to unions with “freemen,” despite discrimination and rejection, to give their children a “half-pure” blood identity. They believe that giving their children this “half-pure” blood identity helps improve their future prospects.
Related projects:

You are running an old browser version. We recommend updating your browser to its latest version.