Talking drums: From a village in Cameroon

by Shirley Deane

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0719542200
• ISBN13: 9780719542206
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: J. Murray
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Cameroon Camaraderie

Modern anthropologists arrive for field work armed with a bushel of theories, paradigms, and texts, and with a passel of worries about subjectivities, voice, discourse and narrative. A number of them succeed in writing totally unreadable books or books whose interested readers can be counted on the fingers of a one-armed man. If anthropology is indeed as much an art as a science, then why aren't more anthropology books artistic ? Fear of missing the "career boat" looms large in the answer. Some researchers may not feel comfortable with the people they've chosen to study and so take refuge in gobs of theory to disguise the fact that they didn't ever absorb much of the real culture. Shirley Deane, an Australian lady working in Cameroon back in the 80s as an ESL teacher to the privileged and powerful citizens of the capital, Yaounde, never took on board all these academic apprehensions. Over three years she travelled to a particular village on weekends, lived there, chatted with the local ladies, worked in the fields with them, and took part in various life rituals and ceremonies, from weddings to funerals. She observed Cameroon village ways--sorcery, religion, health care, education, relations between the sexes, agriculture, and food. In TALKING DRUMS, she provides a description, which if not tied to any anthropological canon, still give us a very good idea about many aspects of life in a Cameroon village. The best part of it is that she accepts each person as an individual, giving respect or criticism, but never looking down on them. She writes of mud and biting insects, beer and porcupine stew, wedding feasts and mourning rituals, village jealousies, tragedies, and with self-effacing humor, of her own efforts to fit in. We come away with a vivid picture of Etam, the village, and its people. Deane developed a whole circle of female friends and she writes clearly and without hype of their lives. For anyone who plans to travel to Africa--at least West or Central Africa--this book gives a great introduction to life beyond the chaotic cities. If you want to feel life in a small African village without going there, you can't do better than read TALKING DRUMS. Anthropology teachers at undergraduate level could definitely use this book in conjunction with some more academic articles or books. It is easy reading, but well worth your while.