Your Madness Not Mine Stories Of Cameroon Ohio RIS Africa Series

Posted In: Cameroon

Andre Hammargren says...

I had to read this for an anthropology class prior to visiting Cameroon, little did I know how accurate it would be, I don't even think I grasped the whole story the first time because I had never been in that culture.This is an excellent work, fast reading and very informative.Good for anyone who wants to learn about Cameroonian culture or just another view of the world in general.

Posted on June 19, 2011

Annette Pavel says...

Your Madness, Not Mine - A Review."We're the matches that will light the gunpowder that has been lying cold like ash.If we don't take a step who will . . . ?"This definitive assertion and rhetoricalquestion,posed by an enterprising Beba woman in Juliana Makuchi NfahAbbenyi's collection of short stories,Your Madness, Not Mine,is evocativeof the author's own project which in many ways is as potent and innovativeas the above metaphor. To read Makuchi, a Cameroonian woman writer,and postcolonial intelligentsia in the West, is to land at once in a rich,complex and contradictory world, bubbling with tensions ensuing from genderconflicts, polyglossia and constant shiftings of center / periphery, self /other dichotomies.In a span of nine short stories, Makuchi guides usthrough the contours of her native African land which shares thepatriarchal history with the rest of the world, while exposing its ownunique gender quarrels, compromises, and victories. The first story, "TheHealer", for instance, plays upon the myth of motherhood that is upheld asthe major or sole criterion of womanhood in most cases.It shows how asociety that seesbarren women as a curse, can end up shovingthem intothe hands ofwicked charlatans who cheat them ruthlessly and drive theminsane.The title story also has a woman domesticated and deprived ofindividual freedomby her typically patriarchal husbanddespite beingeducated and capable of making financial contributions to the household. But if these are stories of women's biological pathology and gendervulnerability, then in "Election Fever" we have a story of women'smanipulative andconniving powers. The grandmother in this story takes herentire family by surprise when she secretively joins many(opposition)political parties and accepts bribery in the shape of cash andPakistani rice. She also instills a lesson on flippancy and exploitationthat leaders and followers mutually play as part of the political game, inher young granddaughter who accompanies her to party meetings."BayamSellam" however, is the story that presents the traditional strength andentrepreneurship of Camaroonian women in the shape of market women.Descendants of strong willed mothers and grandmothers, these market whizzespossess the solidarity and business acumen required to call up a strike andforce the government into declaring a state of emergency. Ifthe women inMakuchi's world are economically and politically aware and active, than hermen are by no means lacking behind in this arena. They have their own shareof pondering and debating over the postcolonial scramble that Camaroon hasbecome since independence in 1960.Hailing from that part of centralAfrica which has been thrice colonized(Germans, Britishers andFrench,all had their share of plunder of this land) and is still struggling towrench free from the clutches of the neocolonial beast gnawing in the shapeof capitalist America, the men in these narratives are often concernedabout the grim socio-economic fate that awaits them. "American Lottery"and "The Forest Will Claim You Too" are two such stories which delineatethe myriad of home grown as well as imposed problems that jitter the heartof this country.Government corruption in particular, and elitistcallousness in general, French aggression and racism, in addition to theeconomic exploitation by next door neighbors like Nigeria, deforestation or"environmental genocide" by both French and Asians, leading to other socialhazards like "timber babies", and loss of ancient herbal medicinalprovisions are some of the ailments that contribute towards breaking thebackbone of Camaroonian economy, and falsifying its persistent effortstowards modernization. No wonder Makuchi blatantly points at thedevaluation of the CFA (the Camaroonian currency) and the escalatinginflation scenario to be the root cause behind the brain drain that Americais enjoying today. The implicit question that lingers right under thenarrative surface seems to be: If the "Third World" youth is often eager tohave a way out of this labyrinthian hole and aspires for that alluring landofpromises, who is to blame? Nonetheless, it is relieving to findthat not all Camaroonian youth are attracted to the West.Peter and hisfriends in "American Lottery", for instance,are well aware ofthedilemmas of identity loss, alienation and frustration thatare quick tofollow the fate of those who turn their face away from the poverty andconfusion of motherland in the hope of totally adopting and assimilating aforeign culture. The same densely packed story depicts localriots,curfews and rebellions to be amongst other things thatkeep Camarooniansperpetually involved in their country's future. Like her themes,Makuchi's images and metaphors are often drawn from both indigenous andforeign sources. So we have palm and plantain, wrappa and nsaa, juxtaposedwith the image of the Marlboro man with his will - o'- the - wisp pose andforeign embassies with their whining twining queue of locals. Her stories,with both rural and urban settings also often break into poetic strings ofthoughtand are embellished with sprinklings of the Beba language, somepidgin, Anglophone as well as Francophone diction.Reading thesesuperb pieces of fiction has definitely been a very enriching experiencefor me.If you are looking for thought provoking yet lucid, andpassionately written fictionalized theory, or theorized fiction, then thisis the text for you.

Posted on June 22, 2011

Eldon Guerino says...

I bought this for a friend who will be moving soon to live in Cameroon.He and his wife are adventurers and love to see and explore their world. He was thrilled with the book and felt it would give them lots of good information and ideas about seeing the country.

Posted on June 24, 2011

Les Dallis says...

The book includes very detailed information.I'm hoping it will help during a three week, independent trip through Cameroon.

Posted on June 29, 2011