Virtanen Tea | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

How do people perform their culture? What is the relationship between collectively organised ritual performances and performativity of everyday life? This study, focusing on the pastoral Fulbe of Adamaoua, Cameroon, highlights these questions by following the Fulbe both in the ordinary and ritual spheres of their social life. While outlining interconnections between the diverse spheres of interaction, the author examines the meaning of pulaaku, the Fulbe code of ideal public behaviour, for the overall performativity of the pastoral Fulbe culture. Through exploring the relation between pastoral values and local islamic moral conceptions, the discussion also addresses the question of cultural change. Based on the author's long-term anthropological fieldwork in Adamaoua, the study offers a vivid ethnographic account of the life of a pastoral people in present-day Cameroon.