This book examines some facets of gender relations in Cameroon symmetry in male-female relationships, womens access to land in traditional society, socialization into gender roles through language textbooks in schools, the association life of women, widowhood and inheritance, social capital and entrepreneurship, husband-wife relations in early German colonial encounters as socially and historically constructed realities from a multidisciplinary perspective, bringing together some social sciences and humanities. The studies point to the fact that these relations are as much rooted in traditions and customs fashioned in several benchmark epochs in African history arming women with formidable social and cultural capitals or making of them victims of social structures over which they have little control as they are constantly evolving in contemporary times and transforming women into agents in their own affairs as well as those of the new societies in the making.

This book investigates gender and power relations in the Cameroonian parliament using a critical discourse analytical approach, which focuses on social issues and seeks to expose unequal relations within institutions. The study identifies different gendered discourses within the speeches of Members of Parliament and government ministers. Consciously or unconsciously, these participants within parliamentary debates draw on topics that construct women and men in specific ways, sometimes sustaining gender stereotypes or challenging existing conditions. The way men and women are constructed using language also is indicative of gender and power relations within this particular community. The study also looks at the way men and women are constructed using traditional discourses of gender differentiation and how some of these discourses get challenged, appropriated or subverted using progressive gendered discourses that advocate equal opportunities, gender equality and gender partnership in development.

This collection of studies is the first title published by the Department of Women & Gender Studies at the University of Buea, Cameroon. The volume provides examples of research undetaken in different parts of Cameroon on poverty reduction, women plantation workers, gender relations within the University and on masculinity in the city of Douala. It includes contributions on the efforts of local faith communities to enhance the quality of life and empowerment of women; the voices representing a wide range of men and women of the faith communities. The volume provides examples of research undertaken by the Department of Women & Gender Studies in different parts of Cameroon on poverty reduction, women plantation workers, gender relations within the university and on masculinity in a major city, Douala. The papers further consider the role of international NGOs and work done by the church in and conclude with two papers on labour relations in Barbados. The book is the result of a collaborative, international research project. Two of the editors, both of whom have had long association with Cameroon, are from Oxford University and the University of the West Indies.

This study explores the concepts of globalization, gender relations, and land tenure, and the intersection of these concepts in a globalizing project, represented by the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline project in selected communities in Cameroon. It questions the theories of globalization, the construction of women and men in the project, particularly as concern land resources. This work will appeal to scholars in social and management sciences, gender studies and environmental sciences in Africa, development agencies and multinational companies like the World Bank and petroleum consortiums, and policy makers.

Fresh insights into gendered politics in Cameroon

This book brings to light work done in the area of gender with a penchant to language within the Cameroonian context. It looks at different domains of gender study where language is a significant variable. It is the very first edited collection that examines language and gender side by side. Contributors draw richly on their current theoretical leanings and on the current gendered discourses within the Cameroonian context to interrogate the interconnections between gender and language through social relationships and interactions. This is a pluri-disciplinary study informed by perspectives from anthropology, sociology and applied linguistics. The book hinges on gender, discourse and social change in historical perspective. Gender and language studies contribute to knowledge of new problems in view of a better understanding of relations between women and men, and its amelioration in the social space. Gender and language studies necessarily incorporate gender and discourse studies. Discourse serves as a unifying factor to these diverse disciplines which bring external support to pure linguistic studies, not only to deepen the understanding of gender but more so to describe how it works in discourse. Here, discourse is seen as being at the centre of gender ideology.

Gendering Knowledge in Africa and the African Diaspora addresses the question of to what extent the history of gender in Africa is appropriately inscribed in narratives of power, patriarchy, migration, identity and women and men’s subjection, emasculation and empowerment. The book weaves together compelling narratives about women, men and gender relations in Africa and the African Diaspora from multidisciplinary perspectives, with a view to advancing original ways of understanding these subjects. The chapters achieve three things: first, they deliberately target long-held but erroneous notions about patriarchy, power, gender, migration and masculinity in Africa and of the African Diaspora, vigorously contesting these, and debunking them; second, they unearth previously marginalized and little known his/herstories, depicting the dynamics of gender and power in places ranging from Angola to Arabia to America, and in different time periods, decidedly gendering the previously male-dominated discourse; and third, they ultimately aim to re-write the stories of women and gender relations in Africa and in the African Diaspora. As such, this work is an important read for scholars of African history, gender and the African Diaspora. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of African Studies, Diaspora Studies, Gender and History.