<PART1: Lifestyle of Hunter-Gatherers and History of Surrounding Farmers>Residence Patterns of Hunter-Gatherers after Settlement Based on Individual Migration Histories: The Case of the Baka in Southeastern Cameroon

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand the pattern of residence of the Baka hunter-gatherers in southeast Cameroon, through their movement and migration histories, and to clarify the significance of migration and migration for them. This paper describes and analyzes the cases collected in five villages in the East Region of Cameroon through intermittent fieldworks from 2010 to 2019. Social norms such as the kinship system and the marriage system have been found to function strongly in such residence and movement in Baka society. While after their settlement nowadays, the number of people who came into contact with outsiders diversified, and the number of people who moved to work and married with other groups increased. Diversification of migration due to interactions with other populations, which has not been emphasized in previous studies, is especially evident in settled hunter-gatherer associations such as the Baka. Moreover, it was found that it also caused changes in the internal systems and norms in each of the Baka and neighboring groups, respectively.