GENERALIDADES DE LA EMPRESA

The second basic concept is that of time. In contrast to place, time indications are far less common in stories. Although the majority of the stories were told in the past tense, they only refer to an unspecified moment in the past. Indications of this undefined moment were sometimes given in the opening, comparable to the ‘once upon a time’, used in Western fairy tales. Other storytellers do not use time indications in the beginning but rather at the end of the story, for example by concluding a story with: “…and from that day on…”

The general absence of time indication in stories may indicate that absolute time is not perceived as a major point of relevance. Instead, more attention is paid to the sequence and mutual relationship between the different events in a story. The only concrete time variable that is often used is whether it is in the rainy season or in the dry season. If people tell true historical stories they more often indicate whether it happened in the dry or the rainy season than the exact number of years ago that the event happened. This could indicate a different time perspective from the linear one, which is prominent in many western societies. However, as has been indicated by many authors (Leach, 1961; Persoon & Van Est, 2000) this does not automatically imply that it is a cyclical time perspective; the division between linear and cyclical is probably oversimplified. Instead, I suggest that in cultures linear and cyclical perceptions of time can exist simultaneously. In the collected stories, next to cyclical notions the historical (linear) time perception is also present though less relevant and less specified than in western thinking.

An exception to irrelevance of historical time is seen, of course, in the stories that deal with the element of time as a subject, or more specifically: the stories about the beginning and the end of the world. However, these stories still do not indicate specific moments that could be found back in either the Gregorian calendar or any other equivalent. They refer to an undefined moment either in the past or in the future.

With respect to the past, people appear to have a specific kind of knowledge. During interviews, the past is generally presented as a time in which there was more harmony, morality and power. As a consequence of good social behaviour, there was more abundance in the environment. If we again take the example of the peak of Mindif, the presence of

animals around this peak is directly linked to the social behaviour of people, in this case represented by the life of Modibo.

Analysing the other time stories, eschatologies, we can conclude that these are largely based on Islamic and Christian traditions. As has already been discussed in section 5.6.4 the end is in the hands of God, and insofar as it is not a predestined process, it depends on the social and moral behaviour of people. The end is, as it were, a final correction of what was lost from the past. However, the precise moment when this will happen is unknown. The future is extendable. There is no defined time limit within which things should happen. The world will simply end if God decides.

The concept of future is perceived to be especially important for the environmental debate (Persoon & Van Est, 2000). Probably the most important aspect of future is the concept of change. Do people think events are irreversible? Do small events today have their influence on the long term? This will be discussed in the next section.

6.6.2 The concept of change

Related to the concept of time is the concept of change in stories. Let me first consider this concept in the stories in general. As we have seen from the database of stories in Cameroon most fictional stories tend to focus on a stable set of codes and rules that are clearly defined by the past. Most of these stories contain moral lessons. These lessons need to be obeyed in order to avoid problems. Many physical features, like characteristics of animals are used in aetiological stories to emphasise the importance of these rules. The main purpose of most stories is thus to keep the status quo in the present society (Schipper, 1990b). As a consequence, these stories do not pay much attention to possible changes.

When changes are discussed in stories, they usually concern the group of mythical stories, in particular eschatologies, and historical stories.

As is the case in many eschatologies in other cultures, in these stories changes often take place quite abruptly and may have a high impact on human society and the environment. The eschatology mentioned in section 5.6.4, box 5.11, is a mechanical description of what will happen when the world ends. It does not say anything about the role of human beings in this process. However, there appear to exist other stories in which an answer is give to the question of what causes such an end to the world. It should be noted, however, that in all cases these changes linked with such a darngal are meant to correct human behaviour that

apparently deviated too much from the original reference. The causes of a certain change in the environment, like the eclipse of the moon, a sand storm or the invasion of a group of elephants are mostly perceived to be acts of god or spirits in order to correct people’s behaviour. This behaviour may be in the realm of disrespect for children, for food or for God. Take the example of the creation of the hill in Zimadou (see box 5.15). This change in the landscape has been evoked by too much curiosity by the people for the secrets of God. This example may perfectly illustrate the main trend found in fiction stories. Things do not need to

change. Quite the contrary, changes are only there as an indirect consequence of people’s bad behaviour, as a way to take revenge or to punish and correct people’s immoral behaviour.

On the other hand, when considering the historical stories, people do appear to be aware of changes other than catastrophic ones in the past or future. These changes are more gradual and take place on a concrete imaginable time-scale. The most obvious example is the already discussed dynamics of landscape change in the forest-savannah mosaic in Central Cameroon as perceived by the local people. As has been explained in section 6.4.2., most villagers are perfectly aware of a changing landscape during the last century. Moreover, the citation of Baba Lucien in section 6.4.2. shows even a direct link between human behaviour and environmental change: fire setting for hunting impedes the growth of the forest. This direct and visible link is totally different from the rather indirect and abstract level of human influence on the environmental change as was explained in the eschatologies. The change from savannah to forest is not related to a judgement about good and bad like in the case of two other categories of stories in which changes were perceived to be punishments. When asking people in Central Province which type of landscape they prefer there was no unanimous answer. People were able to give as many advantages as disadvantages with respect to forest and savannah, and no conclusions were drawn with respect to consequences for human behaviour.

In some cases, however, gradual changes are perceived to be degradation. After all, people often indicate that in the past things were much better. A second example of gradual change, found both in the Far North and in Central Province, is the idea that in earlier times there were more wild animals around the village. Nowadays these animals are perceived to live further away from the villages. Several explanations are given for this phenomenon. In many cases it is linked to social changes: animals do not like the way people act today and have thus moved elsewhere. Interestingly, the dislike expressed by the animals is not necessarily because humans directly threaten them. The birds of Mindif, for instance, have left for other reasons. Another explanation for the decline of wildlife, which was often heard in Central Province, was that nowadays there are no powerful persons anymore in the society. These powerful people were responsible for the existence of totems, which represented a part of the wild animal population. Today, the population of wild animals has decreased because of a decrease of totems.

Concluding this section, one could say that with respect to change different categories of stories have different messages. Fictional stories in general disregard changes, mythological stories deal with changes in an abstract and catastrophic way, usually linked with people’s bad social behaviour. Historical stories often deal with changes in a more progressive way without indicating a clear idea about good or bad. If there is judgement and things are perceived to be degrading, as in the case of the disappearance of animals, this is explained in the same way as eschatologies explain changes: it is caused by immoral human behaviour.

However, as we shall see later, this immoral behaviour is not the same as immoral behaviour as perceived by supra-local environmentalists.