Die Macht, aufzustehen und zu reden - Landfrauen im Nordwesten Kameruns und ihre Vorstellungen über Handlungsmacht und Teilhabe. Landfrauen als Akteurinnen im Prozess des sozialen und politischen Wandels

Abstract

Abstract

A case study from rural areas in the Northwest of Cameroon demonstrates that rural women perceive themselves as conscious actors in all domains of social action. They identify themselves as a social group exposed to discrimination and marginalisation but also able to exercise power over others. Their concrete experience in the field of agricultural production feeds their  self-esteem and enables them to build their power from within. It is their common aim to enhance their participation in those domains of social action from which they have been excluded before. Consequently, they consider it most important to enter public spaces and to take part in discourse setting. To them, access to more knowledge and to the market sphere are basic preconditions to get more voice in public arenas. They perceive their different forms of women’s organisations as a space for mutual training and reinforcement to be able to enhance their presence in public. Thus they follow their own project of empowerment, a process embedded in the specific historical, cultural and social context of the Cameroon grassfields.