Diplôme d’Honneur for Zra Kangache/Wouter van Beek. Recognising his invaluable work about traditional Kapsiki culture

The Kapsiki of Cameroon know him as Zra Kangacé, for others he is Wouter van Beek. From 1972 onwards Wouter van Beek, a retired research fellow at the ASCL, has done anthropological fieldwork among the Kapsiki and Higi, who live at both sides of the border in North Cameroon and North-Eastern Nigeria. His last visit was in 2012. His dissertation in 1978 at Utrecht University, called Bierbrouwers in de Bergen, gave rise to four English and two French monographs, the last one in 2020, plus a series of articles up till this year. Though his ethnographical interest widened into the Dogon of Mali, he has kept into contact with his original field.

A gift for ‘Zra Kangacé’
Last month Van Beek received an e-mail from the son of his first host there, who liked to meet him at home in Wageningen since he had a gift for ‘Zra Kangacé’. That proved to be a memorable encounter, on 3 August. Vandu Joseph, the messenger, came with a special gift from the new Lamido (district chief) of the canton Mogodé – the one that harbors most of the Kapsiki of Cameroon – in the form of a Diplôme d’Honneur attribué à Zra Kangache, en raison de sa qualité et des services rendus au Canton de Mogodé.

It was signed by the new Lamido Faissal, the son of the Lamido with whom Van Beek had worked intensively during his fieldwork. This was deeply touching. The Lamido recognised traditional Kapsiki culture as under threat, and felt the need to delve into Van Beek’s works to preserve and retain as much as possible of this culture, in part through a museum he is founding in Mogodé. Vandu Joseph left Wageningen with an armful of books, a pile of photos and the promise by Van Beek to render as much of his work into French as possible, to make it available for the French speaking Kapsiki.

Public lecture at the Université de Yaoundé
This latter project had already started through a visit in June by Van Beek to Yaoundé, Cameroon, where he had given a public lecture at the Anthropology Department of the Université de Yaoundé. The Kapsiki living in Yaoundé had filled the audience, including two Kapsiki anthropologists working at the Department. During the discussions the need for these translations surfaced, and at present Van Beek is exploring the ways of translating and publishing them.

Top photo: Vandu Joseph presents the Diplôme d’Honneur to Wouter van Beek in Wageningen. 
Lower photo: Audience for the public lecture in Yaoundé.