Historiographical Analysis of Rebels’ Eating Habits under the Maquis in West-Cameroon (1957-1960)

In the aftermath of the Second World War, several states on the African continent embarked on the race for freedom; the peoples living under the domination of French power expressed their desire to leave the colonial yoke. In Cameroon, it is through the nationalists that voices are raised against the colonial government in place. It was also through their initiative that a political party was born in 1948: the Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC). This political formation clearly poses the problem of the reunification and independence of Cameroon; which earned him his ban by an ordinance, signed on July 13, 1955, by the French High Commissioner Roland Pré. This prohibition pushes its militants and the nationalists to go underground. Thus ensued a war characterized by a series of assassinations. The case of the MP Samuel Wanko, assassinated in 1957, is important since it marks the official beginning of the maquis in Bamileke land. During the war, the escalation of violence will generate the displacement of “rebel†populations from their usual lands to the bush. Unlike other research on the maquis, which places particular emphasis on nationalists’ battles, the present study shows how these maquisards adapted their eating habits and diet not only to their new environment, but also to the war situation they were facing. In this perspective, this research aims to make a historiographical analysis of the eating habits of the nationalists living under the maquis in the Bamileke land, by answering the question of knowing: how did the maquisards of the Bamileke land feed themselves during this pivotal period in the history of Cameroon? Methodologically, the resolution of this problem is based on the analysis of written and oral data. This consists of the collection, processing, criticism and interpretation of the said data, as well as the use of a multidisciplinary approach integrating anthropology and sociology. It appears from the data that during the maquis, the nationalists adopted new eating habits, some of which persisted well after this pivotal period in the history of the Bamileke people. More so, they used foodstuffs to defend themselves.