Aspects of interactions between Baka Hunter Gatherers and Migrant Merchants in Southeastern Cameroon.
Takanori Oishi
- Osaka-JP : National Museum Ethnology, 2016.
- páginas 157-175: ilustraciones en blanco y negro.
- no. 94 (2016)
- Senri Ethnological Studies ; no. 94 .
- National Museum of Ethnology Osaka. .
Baka Pygmies and their neighboring farmers have been facing the continuous pressure of the market economy since the 1950s. Following sedentarization and agricultural development, cash began to circulate everywhere, led by the repeated commercial timber logging operations since the 1970s. In addition, cacao farming is widely practiced in the region, including by the Baka. As a perennial tree crop, cacao plantations constitute a new kind of property for the Baka. Cacao cultivation gives them direct access to the market economy without mediation and control by neighboring farmers. This gives the Baka local autonomy. On the other hand, economic inequality is emerging among individual Baka, causing a conflict between self-interest and the traditional egalitarianism. It appears difficult to develop and retain "wealth", while maintaining the psychosocial principles of egalitarianism. However, many Baka have been developing private cacao plantations for more than three decades. At the same time, some also continue long-term hunting and gathering activities. Hence they are struggling to adapt to the market economy without giving-up the hunting and gathering lifestyle. This paper describes and analyzes new relationships between Baka hunter-gatherers and migrant merchants, who play multiple roles in commoditizing the local economy, and concurrent Baka autonomy from their traditional patrons in neighboring farming society.