Dr. Henry Kam Kah
Henry Kam Kah is a senior lecturer of History at the University of Buea, Cameroon. He studied History at the University of Buea from 1993 and obtained a B.A. and M.A. in 1996 and 1998 respectively. He was recruited to teach History at the University of Buea in the 1999/2000 academic year and has been teaching since then. Dr. Kah obtained a Ph.D in History at the University of Buea and among his most recent publications are; “The Bakassi Crisis: The Role of the Nigerian and Cameroonian Military, 1981-2013.” Conflict Studies Quarterly 6 (2014): 3-22; ““Our Gowns for Your Trousers:” Sexuality and Women Revolt in Colonial Laimbwe Land, Cameroon.” Epasa Moto: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Arts, Letters and the Humanities of the University of Buea New Series 1, 2 (2014): 103-22; “History, External Influence and Political Volatility in the Central African Republic (CAR).” Journal for the Advancement of Developing Economies 3, 1 (2014): 22- 36.
Seine Dissertation „The Sacred Forest. Gender and Matriliny in Laimbwe History (Cameroon)“ befindet sich zur Zeit in Druck und erscheint Anfang 2015. Diese Publikation stellt die Zweite der Reihe “ Narrating (Hi)stories. Kultur und Geschichte in Afrika. Culture and History in Africa.“ (Bea Lundt/ Yaw Ofosu-Kusi Hg.) dar.
Weitere Infos zu dieser Publikation finden Sie in diesem blog unter: https://westafricaactivities.wordpress.com/forschung/publikationen-2/publikationen/buchreihe-narrating-histories-kultur-und-geschichte-in-afrika-culture-and-history-in-africa-am-2014/band-2-hg-bea-lundt-henry-kam-kah-the-sacred-forest-gender-and-matriliny-in-laimbwe-history-cameroon/
Kamerun in Berlin, März 2016: Besuch von Dr. Henry Kam Kah aus Kamerun in Berlin
In dem Afrika-Institut der Humboldt-Universität trafen wir eine „alte“ Bekannte von Dr. Kam Kah: Dr. Pepetual Mforbe Chiangong. Sie stammt aus derselben Region in Kamerun wie er. Sie arbeitet dort als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Bereich „Afrikanische Literaturen und Kulturen“ seit 2012 (DAAD).
Wichtig für Dr. Kam Kah war in Berlin vor allem auch der Ort, an dem die Afrika-Konferenz 1884-1885 (auch Kongo-Konferenz genannt) stattfand. Das entsprechende Gebäude in der Wilhemstr. ist inzwischen abgerissen. Dort findet sich aber eine Gedenktafel mit Kommentaren.
Dr. Walter Gam Nkwi
Walter Gam Nkwi holds a PhD in Social History/ Social Anthropology from the Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands. He is teaching Social and Labour History at the Department of History, University of Buea, Cameroon. He read African and Cameroon history at the undergraduate and Post Graduate Levels at the University of Buea. Dr. Nkwi has a passion for social, indigenous conflict management, pre-cultural history and global labour historical issues of Africa. He was a Visiting Research Fellow at the International Institute of Social History (IISH), Amsterdam from 1st September 2012 to 31st January 2013. Within this time Dr. Nkwi was opportune to visit the Institute of Conflict Studies, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania, where he lectured the Post Graduate students on pre-colonial mechanisms of conflict resolution in the Bamenda Grassfields of Northwest Cameroon, a lecture which was further published in the Conflict Studies Quartderly. In January 2015 Dr. Nkwi was made the Faculty Officer of Engineering and Technology, University of Buea, Cameroon.
He has published widely both in Cameroon and abroad in book chapters and peer review journals. His latest publications are: Kfaang and its Technologies: Towards a Social History of Mobility in Kom, Cameroon (2011) Sons and daughters of the Soil: Land and Boundary Conflicts in the Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon, 1955-2005(2011); Voicing the Voiceless: Contributions To Filling Gaps in Cameroon History, 1958-2009 (2010). University Crisis and Student Protests in Africa: The 2005-2006 University Students Strike in Cameroon (2012); African Modernities and Mobilities: An ethnographic history of Kom, Cameroon, c. 1800-2008 (2015).
Dr. Nkwi belongs to several intellectual associations which are the following: Member of Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA);South-South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development, (SEPHIS);Member of the Public Record Office, Archives, Kew Gardens, London; European Social Science History Conference (ESSHC);West African Research Association (WARA); International Society of Oral Literature in Africa (ISOLA); World Economic History Congress (WEHC);International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam (IISH);Fellow Community Member of the African Studies Center, (ASC) Leiden, The Netherlands since 2011;Member of the Board of Directors, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), vici scheme headed by Professor Dr. Mirjam de Bruijn, Leiden University; Association of Friends of the Archives and Antiquities of Cameroon ,(AFAAC); Research Network for Domestic Worker Rights (RN-DWR); Associacion Latinamericana de Estudios de Asia y Africa (ALADAA) with headquarters at Argentina; The Central Africa Research and Innovative Management Association (CARIMA);Pan African Anthropological Association (PAAA) since August 2014; British Society for the History of Science and Technology
A GERMAN PROFESSOR AND ASSISTANT VISITS CAMEROON (4-11 AUGUST 2015)
For one week a German Prof. and her assistant stayed in Buea to fasten cooperation with members of the Faculty of History. Basis of this visit was a five-year long cooperation with Dr. Henry Kam Kah and Dr. Walters Gam Nkwi, both teaching at the University of Buea, about German Colonialism in Africa. After a conference in Ghana about German Colonialism in West Africa and a publication of this conference, where both Historians from Buea participated and wrote Chapters, now it is intended to organise a conference and publish about the German Colonialism in Central-Africa focusing on Cameroon. There is a lack of research being done on this topic especially in this region. Kamerun became a German colony in July 1884 and by 1916 following the outbreak of the Fisrt World War she was defeated and pushed out from the colony. Although the territory became a league of Nations Mandate B territory, the German businessmen came back in 1924 to run the German plantations. This was because the British were unable to run the plantations and also because after auctioning the plantations the London businessmen never showed any interests. So effectively from 1924 while the British administered the territory, the economy was in the hands of the Germans.
Prof. Bea Lundt is historian with a focus on pre-Colonial times. She teaches at the Europe-University of Flensburg, a small University in the very north of Germany, near the Danish Border. She lives in Berlin. She stays in African countries since her own studies-time and since 2009 she comes every year for about three months to Africa. She received several visiting-professorships in West Africa and brings students from her University to Ghana every year. Her special interest is about cultural studies and Gender. That’s why she published the dissertation of Henry Kam Kah about the matri-linear Ethnic Groups in Laimbwe, North-Western Cameroon. „It is very important that we in Europe hear about the matri-linear organisations in Africa“, Prof. Lundt argues, „In a very convincing way and based on written sources and interviews with 150 people from that region Henry Kam Kah has shown the role of missionaries and colonialists in rejecting the local tradition, and the resistance especially of women against the roles these powers forced them to play in misunderstanding and destroying the traditional order. This gives us a totally new perspective on the survival-power and the elasticity of Matrilinearity.“ Herr assistant, Nina Paarmann, has also stayed several times in African countries and already wrote her Bachelor-Thesis about an African Topic. She is now preparing her Master-Thesis about the impact of Colonialism on Gender structures in Africa and also prepares a dissertation about this topic.
Prof. Lundt was received by the head of department, Prof. Nol Alembong, and discussed with him about oral traditions and the historical function of story-telling in Africa. She had a meeting with members of the faculty and with students. They discussed about further scooperation. During her stay she and her assistant, Nina Paarmann, visited the archives of Buea and were informed about the sources especially about the colonial times still not being used in the necessary way. The archives harbours more than 300 documents in the German language still not translated. They were shown sites and relicts of German Colonialism like the the German Schloss (Prime Ministers lodge), Bismark’s Fountain, other German buildings. In Limbe former Victoria, they visited the Botanic Gardens which was the botanic laboratory of the Germans as well as the animal zoo. They also paid a visit to the imposing Edea bridge.
As a parting gift, while at the Douala International Airport on 11th August 2015, Prof Bea Lundt said: „Still most books about Colonialism are written on European desks and on the basis of sources found in London, Paris and Berlin. It is evident that they reproduce the colonial perspective of those times. It is really high time that the African Perspective of their own history is recognized in the Global discourse. I will do my best to help that. There are brillant qualified historians here doing professional teaching and creative research. I thank the collegues in Buea for that precious informations and challenging discussions and also their caring for us during our stay. They invited us to return. We will do so!!!“
Prof. Dr. Bea Lundt: Kooperationen und Aktivitäten mit Westafrika in Forschung und Lehre 