My partner and I spent several months in Cameroon getting to know his extended family and researching how historical events have impacted the family. He created a family tree, and I documented our experience—hoping to better understand the love, hostility, warmth, assumptions, expectations, anticipation and frustration that exist between family members who left, and those who remained.
Many Cameroonians feel that inclusion within the larger family body weighs heavier on their identity than individualism. This essential family tie immigrates with individuals to other countries. However, when someone leaves, their space within the family often becomes crowded with misunderstanding. The family’s perceptions of foreign life rarely match the realities immigrants face. And so a gap forms: between what is expected and what can be fulfilled. The disparity widens with each generation of children unfamiliar with their ancestral home.
My partner’s parents left Cameroon before he was born. Raised in the US, he visited Cameroon once as a toddler, and again at 25. At 30, we returned to acclimate ourselves within the intimate body of his family, and better understand the powerful dynamics between those who left and those who stayed.
This project examines the history of his family, how it came to take its current shape, and how historical events impacted the family. The goal of this project is twofold: 1:to gain a better understanding of recent Cameroonian history from the Bamiléké perspective. 2:To better understand the love, hostility, warmth, assumptions, expectations, anticipation and frustration between family members who left Cameroon, and those who remained.
My partner created a family tree that includes the major events in Cameroonian History so that one can view individuals within the context of the major social events of their lifetime. With the addition of photographs that document living family members, the project will also present a larger story about emigration from Cameroon.