ABSTRACT
Introduction This chapter examines heterogeneous societies and ethnic identity in Africa, the ethnic groups that inhabit the Bamenda grassland region and the arrival of the Bororo (pastoral) Fulani with their cattle and their impact on the region. I argue that conflicts over land and resources in Africa are more common where two or more ethnic groups cohabit and exploit the same environmental landscape and resources, as is the case in Bamenda. I also argue that the arrival of the Bororo Fulani in 1916 and their need for grazing land for their zebu cattle, at a time when the chaotic invasions, disruptions and competition over resources caused by the most recent arrivals up to that point – the Bali Chamba – had not yet been resolved, only intensified tensions over land and resources between and within ethnic groups in the region. The chapter is divided into three uneven parts. First, it addresses, briefly, the problem of heterogeneous societies and ethnic identity in Africa; next, it introduces the migration history, settlement patterns and interactions of the five ethnic groups that inhabited the region before the Fulani; and finally, it examines the arrival of the pastoral Fulani (the Jafen or Bororo), with their cattle, and the exacerbation of disputes over grazing land and resources.
