Kingdoms of the Cameroon Grassfields

Abstract

The three volumes considered here offer significant contributions to studies of African kingship and contribute to an emergent political anthropology of the Grassfields. Each adopts an approach on a sliding scale of emphasis on evidence and interpretation. Fardon takes a strongly evidence-based approach, reflecting recent methodological concerns in anthropology, which invites challenge and dialogue. Warnier presents an innovative methodological paradigm which emphasizes interpretation through observation of human action in engagement with material culture. Argenti takes the view that slave raiding underpins state formation and masquerades, and presents his own interpretations in that light. His approach resonates strongly with contemporary moral concerns about the Atlantic slave trade but lacks historical evidence.