Resumen de Death, the deceased and the dead: Changing trends in the funeral rituals of the bayangi people of Cameroon
In the 18th and 19th centuries, colonialism introduced “foreign religions” (Christianity and Islam) which laid the foundation for landscape-dynamic changes in traditional African rituals. This ethnographic narrative shows that rural-urban exodus, education and, in particular, poverty have strengthened those changes in recent decades. Additionally, these factors have contributed to the funeral rites being taken out of their original context and being shifted into contexts that are estranged, antagonistic and new to traditional beliefs and practices. The funeral ritual has lost cultural meaning and significance in this ‘new’ context. As a result, it is being redefined and ascribed new meanings and significance from within the context of ‘foreign’ beliefs and practices.
