La dot et son incidence socio-économique dans le sud-Cameroun forestier : le cas des Bulu de l’ancienne subdivision d’Ebolawa, 1896 - 2017

Abstract

This work is our modest contribution to the historian research on Cameroon, in general, and on the current Mvila Division, in particular. It focuses on one of the deviancies witnessed by the societies of the deep forest zone of South Cameroon, notably the exorbitant bride-price. It this work, we are trying to show that the bride-price has been perverted by the materialistic society introduced by colonial masters and other Western forces which came in contact with the peoples of the territory whose space had to make up Cameroon across contemporary history. In the ancient Bulu society on which this work is based, the bride-price was a key element in marriage. It sealed the union between individuals, their maternal and paternal families as well as their clans. It had a symbolic value and the man felt proud after having paid his wife’s bride-price. The articles which the young man handed over to the young girl’s family only enabled to seal the union between two families, thereby being the departure point of long-lasting collaboration especially in case where the couple was to have offspring. But the intrusion of Westerners at the end of the 19th century in the Bulu society, followed by the creation of cities such as Ebolowa, and the introduction of farm economy based on cocoa farming, the quest for material goods will lead the Bulu population of the former Ebolowa Sub-Division to pervert the bride-price. The latter will thus lose its symbolic character to become in most cases an element of capitalization and access to consumer goods. During the major periods that Cameroon went through (German colonization, Franco-British mandates and trusteeship systems, independence) the bride-price witnessed a descent into the underworld to the extent that today, at the time when Cameroon in general and the Mvila Division in particular, are organizing themselves to fully join the triumphant capitalist economy at global scale since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, it has reached the threshold of explosion. Today, one needs to spend millions of CFA Francs to marry a woman; that is what is at the origin of the lack of ABSTRACT xiv interest which the young Bulusof the Mvila Division, especially those living in the rural areas where destitute families are residing, increasingly display vis-à-vis marriage. Yet, we are trying to show that this situation is neither irreversible nor fatal. It can be reversed through the dynamism of shared responsibilities where the elite, elected representatives, traditional authorities, church ministers and obviously the various devolved services of the Ministries of the Economy and Social Affairs found in the city of Ebolowa are involved. If all these forces, through a synergy of competencies, work in a collegiate manner, not only will the scourge of the exorbitant bride-price be eradicated from the Mvila social arena, but the youth of this administrative unit will also be able to be integrated into agricultural, pastoral, pisciculture activities and generate income to sustain themselves, thereby providing guarantees for an integration into the dynamics of Cameroon’s emergence