Traditional Arts and Socio-Cultural Changes: The Case of Bags in the Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon

Abstract

The bag like any other aspect of art is an important cultural heritage of every society. As Frank Boas puts it arts and man are inseparable, and that no society can exist without arts. In the Bamenda Grassfields, bag production is done by a few cultures and such activity performed absolutely by the men has been handed down from one generation to another with very little modification. In the pre-colonial days, traditional bags were produced with three major raw materials namely animal skin, fibre and a special fabric called ndop. But today, with the challenges of modernity, the traditional bags of the Bamenda Grassfieds is undergoing gradual modifications both in materials used in production and function. Despite these changes noticed in the manufacture as well as use of the traditional bag, this receptacle still fulfils its functions some of which are to store and carry objects. They are also used to provide healing to patients. Bags can also be used to portray the socio-political organisation of the Bamenda Grassfielders. They are elements of social stratification and cultural identity; they therefore have roles in politics, social, religion, economics and healing. Data for this research was carried using the qualitative as well as the quantitative methods and the information was analysed soon after the data collection was over.