Chapter 4 - Survey Results

CHAPTER 4

SUPPORTIVE EVIDENCE

Survey Results

In May 1993 I carried out a survey of 500 Bangwa secondary school pupils into various aspects of their life, their relationship with ‘tradition’ and their religious beliefs and practice. While the objective for carrying out the survey was to gain data for a future study relating to the Catholic Church’s implementation of inculturation of Christianity in Bangwa, some of the results are relevant to the themes discussed here. For that reason, I make no attempt to present an exhaustive treatment of the survey or the results. These will be written up and appear elsewhere. What I present is only supportive evidence of aspects of what I have previously said.

Since I was interested in differences in attitudes, four groups of students were chosen. The sample, all of whom were of Bangwa parentage, was separated according whether they had grown up inside the Bangwa area or outside it. These two groups were further divided according to whether their fathers, or the adults they grew up with, were either salaried and employed in a profession or were peasants and manual workers with or without a trade. Although the distinction here could be taken as a middle/working class one, I hesitate to use such definite terms since they traditionally connote social divisions which are less clear in the Bangwa society than they are in others. The distinction between those employed in a profession and those who are peasants or manual workers can be see as being rooted in two factors: a difference in economic circumstances and a difference in educational background. As

a consequence of their wealth, greater economic security and education, those who are employed in professional occupations, for example, have usually been more exposed to external influences while in school and later in the office. Frequently, they will also have travelled or lived for some time outwith the Bangwa area. The difference in experience, attitudes and values of the professional/peasant and manual worker groups will have influenced the way they brought up the students that I questioned. Other distinctions can be drawn from the answers in the survey based on, for example, gender, village of origin and which type of school they attended. The survey was carried out in classrooms by myself. Of the 500 responses given, 200 answer sheets were discarded because they were partly filled out incorrectly. A copy of the questionnaire is to be found in Appendix I.

One of the most obvious changes which has taken place during the past one hundred years is the number of wives men have. Polygyny, as was mentioned in chapter 2, was once the norm and aim of most males. If we look at the figures showing the extent of monogamy and polygyny among fathers and grandfathers, i.e. only one generation apart, we can see that the proportion of monogamists to polygynists has almost been reversed (see appendix II, figs. II.1 and II.2) [Pie charts of these results are to be found in Appendix II. Click here to open these results in a new window.]. The rate of monogamy has practically doubled from 32% to 60.5%. One qualifying factor, though, is that grandfathers have had more time to acquire wives than their sons. However, I do believe the trend away from polygyny will continue. The main cause for the reduction in polygyny levels has been economic: bridewealth amounts have increased, women are less in favour of it and large numbers of children who require educating becoming a burden. Western ideas have also had some part to play in the reduction of polygyny. Professional men, who would

be more likely to have the necessary wealth to acquire wives, are 20% more likely to be monogamists compared to peasant men and male manual workers (see figs. II.3 and II.4). The greatest difference in polygyny/monogamy levels was between professional men who lived outside of the Bangwa area, mostly in an urban environment, and those peasant farmers and manual workers living within the Bangwa area (see figs. II.5 and II.6)[33]. Roughly three quarters of the former were monogamists while only half of the latter had chosen monogamy. The difficulty of having sufficient accommodation in the towns for several wives and their children is perhaps one of the factors responsible for this difference. However, the fact that some professional men in urban Cameroon may have one wife in their own home but a mistress and her children elsewhere may point to the fact that the parameters of ‘marriage’ have widened to include relationships which are not formally recognised. In view of this it might be more appropriate to say that apparent monogamy is on the increase. Quantifying the number of monogamist men having mistresses is difficult, because many men prefer that it does not become common knowledge. This in itself points to the possibility that the move away from polygyny to monogamy has not been as sudden as some would believe. The change in marriage patterns is, rather, a slow process which is perhaps being influenced by changes in public attitudes and changes in how men and women now relate to one another.

33 These results almost correspond exactly to a survey carried out in Cameroon in 1975 where adults were questioned about their opinion on polygyny and monogamy. What is interesting in comparing the results of Illy’s survey with those of my own is that opinions about polygyny and monogamy during the mid-1970’s seem to have, at least superficially, been translated into practice in the 1990’s. See Illy 1975.

A similar change in the practice of ‘traditional’ beliefs can be noted between those who come from a professional/educated background and those from a peasant/less educated background. Involvement in traditional rites such as sacrifice and venerating the skulls of ancestors were an essential feature of Bangwa life in the past (cf. de Latour 1991:39-43). Young people, it must be noted, were not excluded from these rites. However, the survey shows that participation in these now appears to be infrequent overall(see figs. II.7 - II.10). Even most of those who had seen one of their ancestors’ skulls or had taken part in a traditional sacrifice stated that they had only done so once or twice. Part of the reason may also be the fact that exhuming the skulls of dead relatives (usually after 18 months) is rarely practised nowadays in Bangwa. With the absence of skulls, the practice of performing traditional sacrifices by pouring libations of oil on them would also decrease. Again the survey points to a difference in participation between the children of professional and peasant/manual worker parents. There is, however, virtually no difference between the students in terms of their involvement with the Ngambe man, the ‘witchdoctor’[34] (see figs. II.11 and II.12). Consulting the Ngambe man is more common among parents, perhaps because they are older, have more experience, have more worries and their links with traditional beliefs are stronger than those of their children (see figs. II.13 and II.14). The arrival of the hospital played a significant role in reducing the amount of appeals to the Ngambe man to divine the cause of illness. Doctors not only explained the causes of the disease - perhaps due to hygiene, diet, etc. - but also controlled the patient’s and relatives’ trauma. This does not mean, however, that belief in

witchcraft has ceased because of western medicine; speculation about who is responsible for misfortune still continues. In cases of misfortune, the doctor or priest fulfils part of the role of the Ngambe by providing assurance of protection, help and hope.

In the survey the students were asked to assess themselves as to what extent they were proficient in the Ngwe (Bangwa) language and how knowledgeable they were of Bangwa traditions (see figs. II.15 - II.20). The object of asking students to assess themselves in these areas was more to see how they viewed themselves as Bangwa; to correlate their answers to which part of Bangwa they came from; and to understand if there was a relationship between Bangwaness and the intrusion of urban culture. There are too many complex issues involved here to discuss, but the following results may indicate something of the effect of social change on the Bangwa students’ view of themselves.

The invasion of Pidgin English into the rural areas of anglophone and parts of francophone Cameroon is a recent phenomenon linked to increased transport during the 1980’s. In the Bangwa area Pidgin is spoken most frequently by students, regardless of whether all those conversing know Ngwe. As schoolchildren in south London work with English in the classroom but use slang in the playground, so too, the Bangwa students use Pidgin in most of their everyday conversation. It is a halfway house, so to speak, between the world of ‘high’ English in the classroom and books and the West ‘African’ modes of expression. Since Pidgin is the lingua franca of the towns, it is not surprising that almost 50% of students brought up outside the Bangwa area regarded themselves as not being very proficient in Ngwe (see fig. II.15). As was expected, the sharpest contrast is between children of

professional fathers who were brought up outside of Bangwa and those from inside the area whose fathers are peasants (see II.17 and II.18). The latter group have been less exposed to outside influences and still return most weekends to the isolated compounds where Ngwe is used constantly.

The survey, like every survey, had its limitations as do the results which still require more extensive analysis. Nevertheless, the above results broadly confirm some of the statements that I have made throughout this chapter about the effect of education, alternative economic relations, migration to the coastal region and other external influences such as urbanisation.