Abstract

The observation of “Country Sunday” in Bambili is an event involving several communities in order to maintain the culture which was inherited from their forefathers. This ritual has a lot of impacts on the economic and socio-cultural domain of the Bambili people. This study thus examines the origin, activities, impacts, contributions and observation of this ritualized practice in the body of politics of Bambili.

To address this task, the study made use of data from primary and secondary sources of information. The former consist of oral interview and archival materials, while the later consist of books, thesis and long essays. The study adopted thematic and chronological approaches. The study reveals that Country Sunday has contributed to the economic and socio-cultural activities in Bambili. From all indication therefore Contry Sunday has a direct impact in the community of Bambili.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Before colonization, African societies had well-organized economic and socio-cultural structures. These structures varied from place to place. In Cameroon, it has been observed that about two hundred and fifty (250) ethnic groups exist with diverse cultural practices.

It is very important to take note that, each of these ethnic groups jealously upheld their respective identities based on their language and cultural observances which were not very beneficial but also significant to their livelihood and existence. They also carry out economic and sociocultural activities in their respective ethnic groups, which was very beneficial and significant to their livelihood.

Some of these activities were largely influenced by the geographical location of their community, climatic conditions and the outburst of some diseases that hindered the smooth running of these activities. It has been seen that, with the advent of European imperialism, the situations described above were greatly interfaced with the establishment of European administration developmental projects in most of these communities.

A clear example was that under German rule, Cameroon was obliged to abandon the economic and socio-cultural activities that were profitable to them for example they were forced to abandon food crop production in favour of cash crop production. The system of worship in Cameroon became Christianity with the worship of One God, but at first, the Cameroonians believed on ancestral worship, and the worship of other gods. When Cameroon became independent from France on the 1st of January1960, and from Great Britain on the 1st of October 1961, the government, with the notion of decentralization, envisaged community and cultural development.

Since the 1960s, Cameroon was essentially constituted of many ethnic groups with the development of cultural institutions and socio-cultural and economic development, linked with cultures of their respective ethnic groups like farming system, the building of schools, village huts, provision of pipe born water, creation of many institutions and associations. The focus of this study shall be the economic and socio-cultural impact of Traditional Sunday (Country Sunday) in Bambili Village.

Statement of the Problem

Very little has been written about the economic and socio-cultural impact of traditional Sunday (Country Sunday) precisely on Bambili in the North West Region of Cameroon. This view rather compounded the situation and made it very difficult for people to understand the history of the economic and socio-cultural impact of the mentioned are of study.

The Traditional Sunday observation rituals in Bambili has relevance in areas like Agriculture, education, healthcare, trade and many others has not been given due attention when it comes to general assessment of die observation process. It is on this note therefore, that the researcher seeks to examine the economic and socio cultural role played by the observation of the Traditional Sunday (Country Sunday) in the rural development of the Bambili Village and the settlers.

Objectives of the Study

This study generally aims at examining the economic and sociocultural role or impact of the observation of Traditional Sunday (Country Sunday) in Bambili.

Specifically, the work intends to:-

1. Trace the origin of Traditional Sunday (Country Sunday).
2. Analyze reasons for Traditional Sunday (Country Sunday
3. To state the organization of activities during a Traditional Sunday (Country Sunday).

Literature Review

Although very little has been written on this topic, the literature for this work will begin with general to specific literature relevant to our discussion. Apart from the archival sources, very little has been written about the history of the economic and sociocultural impact of Country Sunday on the Bambili people. Most of the published works have not gone beyond a skeletal presentation of the origin, economic and sociocultural impact of Country Sunday to the Bambili people.

William Minang John, et al argued that despite the modern national organization system, the majority of people in the rural areas still embrace their indigenous institutions and carry out activities important to their development as well as wellbeing. They also emphasize on the fact that, these institutions are core to the organization of people and the people at the rural level for their political, economic and sociocultural development. The work acts as a guideline to understanding cultural implications in Africa as a whole and in Bambili in particular. (William Minang John, Bamenda Folklore:NP May 2012).

Albert shows the poor performance of the government in meeting the economic and socio-cultural quest of the citizens which has been identified as one of the major reasons behind proliferation of community based organization in the new millennium. He stresses on the recent involvement of the government to meet basic economic and socio-cultural demands of the people. This work provides the more knowledge on the economic and sociocultural impact of Traditional Sunday (Country Sunday) in Bambili. (Albert Ayorinde, accomplishment index analysis of the socio-physical activities of community based organization.NP May, 10 2011)

Abigail et al state that recent years have witnessed a renewable policy interest on community based development which predicated on the idea that community involvement in intervention planning and execution, leads to more effective and equitable development. We have seen that in Bambili, the Traditional Sunday particularly affects the development of the community. (Abigail et al, poker’s research works University of Alobama 2009). This work also act as a guide on how the traditional Sunday affect planning execution in Bambili village.

Sources and Methodology

In order to bring out all the objectives of this study, the researcher carried out his duty here by consulting both primary and secondary sources of relevant historical literature and materials. Firstly, the primary sources consulted in order to bring out the true meaning of the concept of Traditional Sunday (Country Sunday) in Bambili, was done by oral sources from witnesses to the Culture and Tradition of the Bambili people.

The researcher personally interviewed over 20 elders of the Bambili clan and some 40 youths in various quarters in Bambili in order to achieve a positively correct synopsis of the true meaning and concept of the Traditional Sunday (Country Sunday) in Bambili. This was done with carefully planned interviews, theadministration of questionnaires, and group discussions, in order to verify the authenticity of all the information obtained about Traditional Sunday (Country Sunday) in Bambili.

Secondly, the researcher consulted secondary sources of relevant research and magazine articles written on the issues of tradition and culture of not only the Bambili people, but touching the entire North West Region of Cameroon as a some more secondary sources consulted were dissertations from the History Department in ENS of the University of Bamenda Bambili. Also whole.

Problems Encountered

The problems encountered during the research were financial constraints and political instability due to too much gun shot and fear of the unknown men. This made the work to be very difficult to collect information during the research process but with the help of some primary and secondary sources and advice from my supervisor, I was able to overcome the difficulties.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

Geographically, Bambili is an ethnic group in the North West Region of Cameroon, situated 16 kilometers North West of Bamenda. It is found in Mazam Division which is the headquarters of and lies in the Bamenda plateau.

The study spans from 1960 to 2019. The study begins- at the period marked in history by the Anglo-French Colonialism to an independence which came as a result of a plebiscite organized by the United Nations to determine the fate of the Cameroonians.

The independence of the territory gave the government the ability to emerge on economic and sociocultural development, which the Bambili community immediately adopted making their own cultural practices to be interfered with by the Europeans. Since then, the Bambili community has been involved in Economic and sociocultural practices which have gone a long way to promote this work.

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