caa a22 4500 38803663X CHVBK 20180307125007.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199807 xx s 000 0 eng 10.2307/1161256 doi S0001972000044119 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.2307/1161256 van Santen José C. M. Islam, gender and urbanisation among the Mafa of north Cameroon: the differing commitment to ‘home' among Muslims and non-Muslims [Elektronische Daten] [José C. M. van Santen] The history of the town of Mokolo, in the heart of the land of the Mafa (in northern Cameroon), exhibits a specific pattern of urbanisation that seems characteristic of Islamic frontier zones generally in Africa. The town was founded as a settlement for converted slaves towards the end of the nineteenth century by Fulbe chiefs who regularly raided the area. Since that time urbanisation has largely gone hand in hand with Islamisation. It has involved, therefore, a marked change of identity for Mafa converts in the town, with drastic consequences for their relationship with their areas of origin in the mountains. The article emphasises, moreover, that the implications of Islamisation/urbanisation differ along gender lines. Although for both men and women the Muslim community in town provided specific forms of social security, the motives for migration, and the ways men and women were included in the urban community, differed sharply. In the 1980s, owing to political changes at the national level, the pressure to convert to Islam decreased throughout northern Cameroon. Since then the number of migrants to town who do not convert has increased rapidly. Mokolo used to be a Muslim town. In the 1990s, however, it has become more and more a Mafa town, and thus symbolises the revival of Mafa ethnicity as a truly region-wide force. Copyright © International African Institute 1998 Africa Cambridge University Press 68/3(1998-07), 403-424 0001-9720 68:3<403 1998 68 AFR https://doi.org/10.2307/1161256 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.2307/1161256 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- van Santen José C. M. NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Africa Cambridge University Press 68/3(1998-07), 403-424 0001-9720 68:3<403 1998 68 AFR CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge