Protestantisme et représentation du culte des crânes au Cameroun : cas des chrétiens Bamilékés vivant dans la ville de Yaoundé.

Abstract

The research topic entitled "Protestantism and the representation of the cult of skulls in Cameroon: the case of Bamiléké Christians living in the city of Yaoundé" is a descriptive and correlational study, prompted by a series of observations made at different levels of the population concerning the cult of skulls. Several causes were cited to justify this problem (biblical, nollywood cinemas, the list is not exhaustive). Some consequences have also been pointed out to show the importance of this practice. In the quest for understanding, we took a psychosocial look at this situation, and assumed that the determinants that make the practice of skull worship flexible could be linked to the social representation that Bamileke Christians living in Yaoundé have of this practice. The problem raised in this study is that of the disidentification of Bamileke Christians from their ancestral beliefs. With this in mind, we asked the question: what effect does Protestantism have on Bamileke Christians' representations of the skull cult? Our aim was therefore to examine whether Protestantism has any influence on representations of skull worship. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 162 Bamileke Christians living in Yaoundé. The results revealed that all our operational hypotheses were confirmed: HR1: Walking according to the Protestant faith holds sway over representations of the skull cult among Bamiléké Christians living in the city of Yaoundé (β= .420; p= .000); HR2: Belief in Protestant truths exerts a hold on skull cult representations of living Bamileke Christians in the city of Yaoundé (β= .354; p= .000). The results analyzed using SPSS software show that there is a highly significant link between Protestantism and skull cult representations. This leads us to conclude that Protestantism has a negative influence on the practice of skull worship and on Bamileke Christians' representations of it.