Traditional Institutions in Kembong (Cameroon)

Egalitarian societies belong to the most important political systems of old Africa. They could seldom claim that, however, as they were assessed as chaotic and backward by the colonial powers. Nevertheless, in south-west Cameroon, the Ejagham, in spite of all modern influences, have kept the significant elements of their old culture. The foundations of the egalitarian system, to which all hierarchical tendencies were suspect, were maintained by the Ejagham throughout the long colonial era. Hans-Joachim Koloss succeeded in studying, in Kembong, the capital of the region, the essential aspects of the society and world-view of this small and, until now, little-known race of people and in portraying them in an extensive series of photographs.