International Journal of Public and Private Perspectives on Healthcare, Culture, and the Environment
Volume 5 • Issue 1 • January-June 2021
African Culture and Sustainability:
The Case of the Grass Landers of Cameroon
Cornelius W. Wuchu, Department of Geography, University of Yaounde I, Cameroon
[Link]
Akoni Innocent Ngwainbi, Yonsei University, South Korea
ABSTRACT
This article is aimed at discussing the relevance of African culture and its values to the contemporary
society. The qualitative approach was used in this work. The results arrived at shows that African
traditional practices in the Western Highlands of Cameroon has over time developed cultural values
which are concomitant to the objectives of MDGs and SDGs. But, in most cases, these values have
been neglected by national and international development agencies leading to continuous clashes
between traditional African values and what the people consider as foreign to them. However, some
aspects of the culture have remained inimical to human rights and local development. Therefore, for
African culture to entirely play its role in achieving sustainable development, the paper holds that
a cultural hybridisation is an ultimate solution to the problems faced by indigenous practices and
external policies of development.
KEywoRdS
African Culture, Sustainable Development, Western Highlands of Cameroon
1. INTRodUCTIoN
The culture of a people is what marks them out distinctively from other human societies in the family
of humanity (Ezedike: 2009). The continent of Africa has a triple heritage1 (Mazrui: 1986). This
heritage was inhabited by various ethnic nationalities with their different languages, methods of
healing, techniques of farming, modes of dressing, eating, dancing and even greeting habits (Idang:
2007). In spite of their varied cultures, Africans share some dominant traits in their belief systems
and have similar values that mark them out from other continents of the world. A Nigerian culture,
for instance, would be closer to, say, a Ghanaian culture on certain cultural parameters than it would
be to the Oriental culture of the Eastern world, or the Western culture of Europe (Antia: 2005). The
cultures of traditional African societies, together with their value systems and beliefs are close, even
though they vary slightly from one another. These slight variations only exist when we compare an
African culture with others.
In discussing African culture and sustainability, we try to show the relevance of African culture
and its values to the contemporary society but maintain that these values can be critically assessed,
DOI: 10.4018/IJPPPHCE.2021010104
Copyright © 2021, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
46
International Journal of Public and Private Perspectives on Healthcare, Culture, and the Environment
Volume 5 • Issue 1 • January-June 2021
Figure 1. The location and layout of the Western Highlands
and those elements of the culture found to be inimical to the well-being and holistic development of
the society, be modified or discarded. In this way, African culture can be revaluated, its relevance
established and sustained in order to give credence to authentic African identity.
2. dESCRIPTIoN oF THE STUdy AREA
The Western High Plateau, Western Highlands or Bamenda Grassfields is a region of Cameroon
characterised by high relief, cool temperatures, heavy rainfall and savanna vegetation. The region
lies along the Cameroon line and consists of mountain ranges and volcanoes made of crystalline and
igneous rocks. The region borders the South Cameroon Plateau to the southeast, the Adamawa Plateau
to the northeast and the Cameroon coastal plain to the south. It has many volcanic peaks such as the
Bamboutous Mountains (2740m), Oku Mountains (3001m) as well as volcanic lakes such as Lake Oku,
Lake Wum and Lake Nyos. Figure one indicates the location of the western highland in Cameroon.
The plateau experiences an equatorial climate of the Cameroon type with two major seasons:
A long, wet season of nine months, and a short, dry season of three months. During the wet season,
humid, prevailing monsoon winds blow in from the west and lose their moisture upon hitting the
47
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