RESULTADOS DE LA APLICACIÓN DE LA ENCUESTA

After we have discussed the two basic concepts of place and time in stories, let us now further analyse some themes that are prominent in stories and that may play an important role in the environmental debate. The first theme I will discuss here is the concept of care or compassion in stories. I will discuss the two concepts together. Although care could be taken without having compassion, I presume them to be closely linked.

This concerns in the first place the care for environmental elements such as animals and plants. This idea is, of course, directly linked with the need for environmental conservation or nature. It refers to the second question posed by Milton in section 2.6. Nature needs to be protected because it is endangered. But what concrete information can local stories give about this?

Let me first focus on the concept of compassion for animals in stories. The feeling of compassion is impossible without the faculty to place oneself in the position of the other. This faculty definitely appears to exist among people in Cameroon since in most fiction stories, animals feel, act and think like man. Therefore animals in stories also feel moments of trouble in which they need help or in which they are really victims. It should be noted, however, that these notions are, of course, in the first place metaphors for human feelings and problems rather than true characteristics attributed to animals. For the same reason, animals are also able to help each other or to collaborate in the way human beings do.

However, apart from fictional stories, this collaboration is also perceived in real life. Good observations of local people have led to the information that in nature some animals use each other, for example the so-called ‘guardian bird’ that always keeps company with large animals such as cattle or wildlife. Many villagers in the Far North know that this is a reciprocal relationship in which both parties profit: the bird gets its food by eliminating the insects that would otherwise bother the animal. On a more spiritual level there are also stories about invisible creatures that live with animals and protect them. An example is the story (box 6.5) about a little dwarf that always goes with a buffalo herd and that is supposed to possess magic power to protect the herd from predation.

People are thus able to imagine how animals would feel. The next question would be, does this lead to feelings of compassion and if so, in which situation? Let us first look at the position of victims in fiction stories. As has been explained in section 5.4, animals have several characteristics and because of this certain animals always get into trouble. Remarkably, most typical victims in stories, like the hyena or the panther, are perceived to be ridiculous creatures by the audience. Stories about these characters are an excellent recipe for success (i.e. a laughing or animated audience) of the storyteller. It does not at all link to a

On the other hand, there are also a few common stories that do touch on the feeling of compassion, especially between human beings and animals. A beautiful example is the story heard in Pette about a hunter who meets the last Buffon’s kob (see 6.3.1) who begs the hunter to have mercy on her. However, as we have seen, the story does not tell us much about compassion. After being mentioned, the theme is not further worked out.16

An other example concerns the non-fiction story of the villager who decided to take care of the elephant baby (see section 6.3.1). This was a good deed and it was rewarded by the elephants. Apart from the fact that the story suggests a certain compassion by the villager for the animal, it shows the idea that animals, just as human beings, need care.

There appears thus to be a strange contradiction. The possibility of animals to express their feelings in stories is very helpful in also expressing their needs. This would support the eco-centric worldview in which animals need a party that supports their rights. In that sense stories could act as a mouthpiece for these animal rights. However, as most of these stories

16 _{The concept of compassion is also strongly related to love. Like compassion, this theme was not found in} stories. In spite of the absence of this theme in most of the stories, it does play a prominent role in some stories that are more linked with initiation rituals, hence stories not collected by me. This includes of course stories that are linked with religion such as the Bible or the Koran but also the traditional story of the Mvet as discussed in

section 5.6.3 which links love with beauty.

Box 6.5: Nanga protecting the animals

Nguila: Elvis, age 26, male, Babouti.

Once there was a little boy. He was guarding all the animals, all species. Elephants, lions, panther, all sorts of animals. The animal that guards all these animals is called Nanga. The boy who guarded every morning went looking for food, very far, sometime as far as Ntui, sometimes to Oba. If he was sure he had found enough food he blew on his horn and the animals carried the food home, and put it in front of the house of the chief. The lion and the elephant took away the food without giving anything to their chief. So one day, the chief went looking for food and he met a gang of ogres. The ogres said: “Ah we have often heard talking about you, it is you we are looking for. We will eat you.” What could he do, except run away. He ran a very long time until arriving at a fromagier. There he took his grisgris and beat it against the fromagier. It became small and he climbed in it. He beat again and it became big again. The Ogres smelled him and went turning around the fromagier tree without seeing him. They looked up because of the smell and discovered him. “Ah, there he is!” So they started cutting the tree, but the fromagier tree did not fall. The boy took his horn and started singing. Nanga was sleeping very deeply so he did not hear. The other animals did and tried to wake up Nanga but… no way. The Ogres kept on cutting.. Just when the tree wanted to fall, Nanga woke up. So the animals had caught all the orges and killed them. The boy used his grisgris to make the fromagier tree small to get out of it. He went back with his animals. He kept on guarding them like he always did. That is why they say that if someone is your chief, even if he is small you have to respect him.

conclude, animals do not seek their rights by claiming their helplessness. On the contrary, most animals are perceived to be totally capable of running their own lives. Stories may represent the voice of the animals, but do not communicate the message of their poor and helpless position.

This becomes most clear when considering the extreme case of helplessness or vulnerability of nature: the notion of extinction of species. According to common conservationist ideas, if mankind does not protect certain animal species, they may become extinct in the near future. In spite of the story about the last kob, the idea of animal extinction is absent from local perception. Although villagers have noted that certain animals do not occur anymore in their environment, such as the elder villagers in Nguila who state that there are no longer lions and elephants around the village, the general idea is not that these animals have become extinct, they have simply moved elsewhere. This also fits into the idea of a flat world with the village in the centre: there is always brousse at the edge and thus there is always a place for nature. Since this place is inaccessible for people, it is assumed that there will always be a place where animals can hide. The impossibility of extinction also maintains validity because there are many alternative explanations for the disappearance of certain animals. As has been discussed the decline of wildlife is directly related to the decline of powerful people in a society. To cite a villager from Nguila: “Before, people transformed into a panther. They could be recognised since they wear a chain. But they don’t come here anymore. The witches stay far from here, they don’t come to the village. But if you go hunting far away you will meet them: the panther, the lion and the hyena.”

The findings in stories about the capability of animals to look after themselves may coincide quite well with the daily experience of people in Cameroon. I remember one day I was translating a text with my interpreter in a room in Yaounde. All of a sudden, a bird flew into the open window. The interpreter caught the bird and started to play and laugh with it. In spite of my impulsive reaction of compassion -I wanted to take care of the bird and make sure he was not wounded- the man kept on teasing the bird. This finally ended up in a discussion about how to deal with the bird. My interpreter answered: “Do you really think this bird needs help? They are capable enough of taking care of themselves. Besides you never know whether it is an ordinary bird or a witch. It may even harm you.”

The examples mentioned show that in general people do feel not much compassion towards animals17. The need to take care of animals such as keeping domesticated animals is not very much part of the Cameroonian culture. Animals, such as dogs, may be kept in households but they primarily fulfil a guarding function. They are never caressed as is the case in many western societies. The same counts for other elements of nature such as trees. As we may conclude, the protection of the rainforest is not an issue for people who perceive the forest as expanding. A local woodcutter from Nguila said: “Of course I like the forest, but

17 _{Instead, they are much more concerned about people. As a colleague in Yaoundé said: “ You people care so} much about animals but what about the poor and helpless people in your society?”

therefore I like to work in it. I do not feel the danger of a disappearing forest. The forest and its powers will always be able to overrule man.”

Indeed, there are many stories both in the Far North as well as in Central Province in which nature is able to fight back if it is too threatened by people. Some old trees provide shelter for spirits that will definitely take revenge if the tree is cut. In the Far North fear rather than compassion impedes people from cutting mostly old trees.

Finally, the question may be asked whether the landscape itself is perceived to be vulnerable? This can best be illustrated by the major change after the construction of the dam in the Far North of Cameroon. This dam had major consequences for the floods in the region (see chapter 4). As a consequence the region lost its major floods. This resulted in many environmental changes such as change in vegetation and soil fertility. According to most villagers in the region, this event did not take place without much resistance by the environment itself. Many stories have been told about spirits in the water that fought against people from the Semry rice project to avoid human intervention (Zwaal, 1997).

Concluding this section, it could be said that the idea of compassion and care is not prominent in stories. Nevertheless, people are well able to imagine that animals can feel pain or trouble. There are also some remarkable exceptions in which people decided not to kill an animal or even to protect it. Interestingly, this behaviour was always rewarded in the end. In some cases (such as the example in section 6.3 of the bird that saved the boy from the ogress) nature appeared to be able to take care of human beings as well. This may imply incidental relations based on reciprocity between nature and individuals. In spite of some exceptions it emphasises that nature is in general supposed to be powerful enough to take care of itself. This is directly related to the theme of respect and fear for the environment. This will be discussed in the next section.