L’Àbáá (maison des hommes) chez les Fang-Béti du Cameroun: évolution et déclin. (xviiiè – xxième siècle).

Abstract

This dissertation aims to examine the circumstances of Àbáá in the Fang-Beti cultural environment. The aim here is to see how the Fang-beti people organized themselves in relation to this cultural institution rightly called guard corps or men's house, to analyze the changes it underwent over time, as well as the impact of these in the daily lives of these people. Àbáá was therefore born from the desire to resolve post-clan war conflicts from the 18th to the 21st centuries. This circumstance already reflects the primary role that these spaces will play in this cultural area. Very quickly, this cultural infrastructure will be equipped with several other functions and will end up being a cultural center space where everything is learned, and where all decisions are made. This essentially masculine space will justify its description as a men's house. But in most written documents, the term Àbáá is more common than that of the guardhouse. Over time, the intrusion of foreign cultures will end up orchestrating the decline of Àbáá in the Fang-Beti environment. These foreign cultures are those introduced by European and American missionaries through Christianity, without forgetting colonization and its effects. Many other factors will contribute to the decline of Àbáá but the main ones are linked to this opening to the Western world. All this will end up gradually killing the culture that men received in these houses reserved for them. This will lead to their gradual decline in the Fang-Beti environment. Today, the situation in men’s homes is chaotic. The few that remain of this customary institution are not only abandoned, but possess almost nothing in terms of material and immaterial potential. The direct consequence is the loss of an aspect where the Fang-Beti cultural identity was forged; a people who once lived with a certain number of principles and cultural values of their own. Hence the plea for the adaptation of Àbáá and its revaluation in the context of today's modern world.