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People of the Chisel: Apprenticeship, youth, and elites in Oku (Cameroon)
Author(s) -
Argenti Nicolas
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.2002.29.3.497
Subject(s) - modernity , elite , modernization theory , apprenticeship , sociology , hierarchy , dichotomy , nationalism , carving , state (computer science) , gender studies , negotiation , aesthetics , political science , social science , law , history , art , epistemology , visual arts , philosophy , archaeology , politics , algorithm , computer science
In this article, I explore the ways in which Oku carvers negotiate their relation to the palace hierarchy and to the nation‐state by means of the masterapprentice relationship. I describe the palace hierarchy's incorporation of the procreational powers of apprenticed carvers and examine a separate group of nonapprenticed carvers and the alternative network of new‐elite patrons for whom they work. This case study leads to a deconstruction of the dichotomies pitting locality against the state, palatine against business elites, and tradition against modernity, suggesting that tradition may conceal social change and that modernist youth movements may conversely provide sources of historical continuity. [apprenticeship, youth, modernity, nationalism, elites, carving, hierarchy]