The Everyday Life of the Poor in Cameroon
The Role of Social Networks in Meeting Needs
Nathanael Ojong
The Everyday Life of the Poor in Cameroon
The Role of Social Networks in Meeting Needs
Nathanael Ojong
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Description
This book provides a detailed account of the lives of the poor in Cameroon, particularly their use of social networks to meet everyday needs.
"In this reinterpretation of network analysis, Ojong focuses on the strategies and responses of the poor in four administrative regions—Northwest, Southwest, Littoral, and Central—that encompass both rural and urban areas in Cameroon. By examining what he refers to as "network practice," Ojong underscores how sociocultural and economic factors influence what the poor do to meet their everyday needs. The study is based on 89 semi-structured interviews with women and men, conducted between 2011 and 2019. Following the introduction, each of the six chapters focuses on an important aspect of poor people’s lives, namely, food, shelter, healthcare, death, financial practices, and discussions of personal matters. This qualitative research enabled the author to explain seemingly contradictory behavior, such as why some poor people prefer to take loans from non-kin with whom they have weak social ties, rather than become obligated to close kin with strong social ties. While the provision of food from farming activities is vital for the rural poor, urban agriculture is also important for the urban poor (although this topic is not examined in depth). Ojong concludes that these findings may be used for expanding social network analysis elsewhere in the Global South." --E. P. Renne, emerita, University of Michigan
Nathanael Ojong is an Assistant Professor of International Development at York University, Toronto, Canada.