Excursions

From July 28 to August 7, 2016, an excursion to Cameroon, specifically to Dschang and the Cameroon grasslands (Ouest and Nord-Ouest regions), took place within the framework of the institute partnership between the Institute of Historical Sciences of HHU and the Institut de langues étrangères appliquées of the University of Dschang. Together with the lecturers and students from Dschang, the Düsseldorf students - under the direction of Prof. Dr. Stefanie Michels, Prof. Dr. Martin Doll and Caroline Authaler - conducted on-site surveys of passers-by and interviews with experts on the memory of the common history between Germany and Cameroon.

Stations of the research were beside Duala and Dschang the former cattle breeding station Djuttitsa, the royal palace in Fontem as well as Bana. Here the German-Cameroonian research group visited the remains of the former Basel Mission as well as the Chefferie Bana. In addition, a meeting with Fo Sikam Happi V (King of Bana) took place, during which Prof. Gouaffo and Prof. Michels presented prints of historical photographs from the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne as well as reproductions of watercolors from the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museum in Mannheim. The photographs and watercolors were taken during a research trip by the couple Pauline and Franz Thorbecke in the Cameroon grasslands in 1911/12 and show the then reigning Fona Hapi I, a direct ancestor of Sikam Happi V. Regional media also reported on the German-Cameroonian meeting and the diplomatic gift.

Their impressions and experiences made by the students of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf during the eleven-day excursion were recorded in field reports and can be read here. In addition, the university radio of the University of Düsseldorf conducted an interview with one of the participants before the excursion. Moderator Alexander Werth asked Marvin Wibbeke about his expectations of the excursion and the planned research on colonial traces in the Cameroon grasslands. You can find the interview here.