Du lamidalisme à la lamidalité du pouvoir au Nord-Cameroun

Abstract

The present work unfolds along a socio-historical analysis of current events, specifically the murder of a young man in a royal building in Northern Cameroon. Our exchanges with local residents on social networks (WhatsApp, Facebook) between 2017 and 2022, coupled with a conceptual analysis of lamidism – understood here as a full-fledged governance system – also served the empirical trajectory of our analysis. In order to establish a singular conceptualization of what we call ‘lamidality of power,’ this article operates in three stages. First, it revisits the socio-historical conditions that led to the emergence of lamidism in Northern Cameroon. Then, it analyzes the strategies implemented by power to impose this epistemic and political vision of sovereign exercise in Northern Cameroon. Finally, we discuss the importance of specifying the very concept of lamidism to better understand its contemporary extensions and updates.