Chefferie de Marva
Données nouvelles sur la fondation et le peuplement de la chefferie de Marva (Nord-Cameroun)
Jeanne-Françoise Vincent, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (C.N.R.S.)
Publié dans le Senri Ethnological Studies 31 - 1992 et disponible en ligne à l'adresse suivante: http://ir.minpaku.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10502/640/1/SES31_013.pdf Résumé en anglais. Texte en français.
An unpublished mythical st ory sheds a new light on the origins and social organization of two ethnie groups from North Cameroon . It tells of a foreign hunter ousted from his group, who through his meat-sharing generosity succeeds in becoming the new sovereign of the Giziga chieftainship of Marva.
Correlating with previous surveys, it confirms the validity of the assertion according to whieh there is an ethnie kinship -limited to the chief's clansbetween the Giziga from the plain and the Mofu-Diamaré from the mountains, whieh is re-enacted during the funeral rites. It underlines the motivation role behind migrations played by the competition for politieal power. The link between power, tradition al religion and rain control, together with the existence of social stratification based on the possession of power, between the "noble" clans and the "inferior" ones, finally appears in both ethnie groups.