The Forest People without a Forest: development paradoxes, belonging and participation of the Baka in east Cameroon by Glory M. Lueong (review)

In recent years, African countries from Côte d'Ivoire to Liberia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Cameroon have seen a resurgence in the salience of ethnic identities that distinguish populations between autochthons ('sons or daughters of the soil') and allochthons (aliens or strangers). Despite the prominence of the word 'forest' in its title, Lueong's The Forest People without a Forest is not a book about forests; it is about notions of indigeneity, autochthony, belonging and participation in the body politic in twenty-first-century Cameroon. Lueong, a Cameroonian national and a German-trained development sociologist, draws on ethnographic fieldwork among Bantu and Baka communities in the country's East Region to examine the place of the Baka there and, more generally, in Cameroonian society.

The book commences with the following paradox: the Baka, largely known by outsiders as 'pygmies', a term the book largely eschews, are still considered by national and international 'developers' as forest people. However, long ago, and in the name of development, they were evicted from the forest and now reside in roadside villages among the general Bantu population (sedentary agriculturalists). Despite this history, the Baka, who oscillate between 40,000 and 60,000 (p. 5) out of a total population of nearly 21 million Cameroonians, must prove their 'belonging' (indigeneity or autochthony) to access state and development benefits of any kind reserved for citizens. The central question raised here, then, is: 'How do the Baka assert their belonging in order to participate in development interventions and in the community?' (p. 3). And the answer to the question is simple: there is no unique Baka way. Indeed, the book's main argument is that, in the face of multiple and contradictory development interventions, the East Region's Baka act in functionally instrumental but competing ways. 'In other words, the Baka assert their belonging not as a group of indigenous peoples. Rather, they assert their belonging in ways that are conflicting. Some Baka assert that they are indigenous peoples, while others see themselves as "locals"/autochtones' (p. 166).

Not including the introduction and conclusion, the book is organized around five main chapters. Collectively, these chapters seek to problematize the notions of 'pygmies', indigeneity and autochthony as well as attempt to demonstrate how, in Cameroon, indigeneity and autochthony refer to two deeply contested versions of belonging. Finally, the book argues that the Baka astutely counter contested claims of their belonging – hence societal rejection and ostracism – that deny them the ability to access various social benefits and economic opportunities.

Overall, the strength of the book lies in the fact that it lets the Baka speak for themselves. Through, it must be said, an overabundance of quotes at times and repetitive statements, the book illuminates the various paths taken by the Baka to navigate multiple and competing development interventions. In my view, the book convincingly argues that the Baka are not a homogeneous and egalitarian society, and nor are they passive recipients of (mostly) foreign development interventions in their communities. They have agency and use it to their advantage. Finally, by showing that the East Region's Baka have 'left' the forest long ago, the book refutes essentialist arguments in extant literature about Baka society and its relationship to a 'mythical' forest long gone.

The major weakness of this work remains the lack of a clear and elaborate theoretical framework. As it stands, the introduction as well as the conclusion are rather concise and disappointing. The book could have made more abundant use of recent literature and theory on 'the politics of belonging'. Additionally, it is hard to draw wider lessons about autochthony and indigeneity beyond the case at hand or policy implications from it. Speaking just of Cameroon, the book does mention the existence of two other...