FINALIST FOR THE 2019 ALBERT J. RABOTEAU PRIZE FOR BEST BOOK IN
AFRICANA RELIGIONS
AN INNOVATIVE STUDY OF CHRISTIANITY AND SOCIETY IN CAMEROON THAT
ILLUMINATES THE HISTORY OF FAITH AND CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION AMONG
SOCIETIES LIVING UNDER FRENCH RULE 1914 TO 1939.
Between the two World Wars, the radical innovations of African
Catholic and Protestant evangelists repurposed Christianity to
challenge local and foreign governments operating in the
French-administered League of Nations Mandate of Cameroon. Walker-Said
explores how African believers transformed foreign missionary
societies into profoundly local religious institutions with indigenous
ecclesiastical hierarchies and devotional social and charitable
networks,devising novel authority structures to control resources and
govern cultural and social life. She analyses how African Christian
religious leaders transformed social and labour relations, contesting
forced labour and authoritarian decentralized governance as threats to
family stability and community integrity. Inspired by Catholic and
Protestant doctrines on conjugal complementarity and social
equilibrium, as well as by local spiritual and charismatic movements,
African Christians re-evaluated and renovated family and community
authority structures to address the devastating changes colonialism
wrought in the private sphere. The history of these reform-minded
believers reveals howfamily intimacies and kinship ties constituted
the force of community resistance to oppression and also demonstrates
the relevance of faith in the midst of a tumultuous series of forces
arising out of the colonial situation peculiar to Cameroon.
Charlotte Walker-Said is Assistant Professor, Department of Africana
Studies, John Jay College, City University of New York (CUNY).
Les mer
Christianity and Social Change in French Cameroon
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781787442900
Publisert
2020
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Ingram Publisher Services UK- Academic
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter