Belonging and Becoming: Boundary and Identity Issues in the North West Region of Cameroon

Inter-ethnic boundary crises are hallmarks of Cameroon with the North West Region (NWR) gaining notoriety with high propensity of aggravation. The varied ramifications of crises related to boundaries in this region, orchestrates unanimity among academics and researchers that the issue is topical and preoccupying. What seamlessly surfaced from the boundary crises is the ethnic identification. Boundaries divided ethnic groups, rendered some stranded and landless. The main thrust of this paper is the nexus between boundary and identity issue in the NWR of Cameroon. The study investigates how ethnic groups in this region belonged and/or became with the implantation of boundaries among them. The paper establishes the premises that the advent of formal boundaries in the region, a phenomenon hitherto absent, triggered the identity question. It concludes that the notion of dual, lost and void identities in the NWR owed their origins to the advent of formal boundary, introduced by the Chamba, officialized by the colonial administrations and adopted and/or adjusted by the post-colonial government.